The International University City of Bologna

To cast the mind forward in time, imagining and planning something before it actually exists in reality

Let’s cast our minds back in time. It’s 1921, when the project for the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (CIUP) begins, a unique university environment located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. After the disaster of the First World War, the project aimed to be pacifist and cosmopolitan.

Let’s return to the present day, riddled with wars, while cosmopolitan values are under attack from populist nationalism. In 2026, the Mayor of Bologna launches the idea of a university campus in the city. Bologna showcases its diverse offerings to the world. The Alma Mater Studiorum grows in prestige, continuing to climb global rankings. The city also boasts a record in wealth. Thanks to its elite industrial capitalism in the automotive (Motor Valley) and packaging industries (Packaging Valley), Bologna is home to billionaires, and its residents’ net worth is among the highest in Europe. The Bologna metropolitan area has seen a record increase in industrial projects funded by foreign multinationals. It is highly competitive in exports. With one of the world’s most powerful supercomputing centres, Bologna’s economy has the strength to transform its traditional manufacturing wealth into digital wealth. Its conference sector is highly attractive. With powerful economic drivers operating in Bologna, can we say that the International University City project is auspicious?

Let’s return to Paris to the launch of the CIUP. Among its founders, alongside the then Minister of Education and Fine Arts and the Rector of the University of Paris (the Sorbonne), was a wealthy French industrialist and patron who financed the construction of the Campus’s first residence. Great architects designed the “Maisons”: each represents a nation and features traditional elements from its country of origin, reinterpreted with a modern twist. Each house not only accommodates students of its own nationality. Bylaws require each residence to house a significant number of students from other nationalities to foster cultural integration. Each year, the Cité welcomes 12,000 students and researchers from more than 150 nationalities.

This bird’s-eye view reveals three details that, if overlooked, would be a fatal trap. Specifically: the Cité’s meticulous attention to detail, patronage (the entrepreneur who generously funds it), and internationalisation. Let’s focus on the latter two. Patronage is estimated to generate about 7% of the economic value of Bologna’s cultural system and supports 7.6% of local employment in the creative sectors. Will elite capitalists, their businesses, and banking foundations work to create the creative environment known as the university campus? Internationalisation puts the Alma Mater at stake. A cosmopolitan community will live on Campus, a group of people who consider themselves citizens of the world, transcending national, cultural, or political boundaries. This is what happened at our University during the Middle Ages, when students from diverse backgrounds formed associations called Nationes. If the community living on Campus is cosmopolitan, so must the Alma Mater. Let’s explore three points behind which the devil could be lurking. First: election of the Rector. Will it be possible to choose the Rector from candidates from other universities, Italian or foreign, and who, for example, is non-Italian, as happens in Anglo-Saxon universities? Second: selection of professors. Will a public university be able to announce academic openings by asking scholars from around the world to submit their CVs and research portfolios? Third: the mentor. Does the University of Bologna already operate with the role of the professor-mentor, responsible not only for the subject they teach but also for career guidance and the student’s psychological well-being? In the Anglo-Saxon world, each student is automatically assigned a mentor who supports them throughout their studies. Furthermore, there is a culture of open tutoring and informal discussions over coffee, aimed at discovering students’ talents.

It would also be a welcome development to include Politechné in the International University City of Bologna (IUCB) project. This hybrid educational model combines STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills with an understanding of philosophy, sociology, and communication. This would create an innovation ecosystem that enriches intellectual vitality, broadens the universe of ideas, and transcends sectoral and geographical boundaries through digitalisation. Made up of people from different countries with multiple cultural identities and a desire to live and work together, the IUCB community would participate in the innovation ecosystem and share ideas and projects with research centres, business incubators, and startups. Non-linear thinking would make this sharing possible; it can appear disorganised and expand in multiple directions at once, finding connections between seemingly separate concepts. This holistic, intuitive, and creative thinking fuels the free and generous flow of human ingenuity. Everyone can benefit from it. The CIUB would become an epicentre of scientific discoveries that could translate into innovations in critical fields, such as energy (clean, affordable, and reliable) and healthcare (fighting climate change, which, by overloading it, threatens access to it).

Ultimately, the Campus proposed by the Mayor requires solid supporting structures built by bringing together infrastructure architects and immaterial architects, buildings with the relationships and experiences that take place within them.