The modern city has captured society’s imagination as a symbol of free and democratic expression, a commons for open dialogue. However today both art and science are pointing at the city’s more worrying ability to silence and marginalise voices.

Every space we shape inherits a social contract that guides our behaviour, and either affords or takes away our agency for different forms of expression. In the public sphere, social contracts can support or hinder social interactions that affect social cohesion, resilience, and even innovation. A city open to more forms of expression that represent the spectrum of human experience will create a culture with a richer, deeper dialogue.

How can we make spaces and places that support political expression for vibrant democracies? How do we change the contract and regain our agency in the city? In this session we will heard from Avi Yalou: Activist, Social Entrepreneur and chairman of the Tsedek (Justice) political party in Israel. From his experience, how was the city used to raise awareness about racism towards Israel’s Ethiopian Community?