Call
XI International Congress of Educating Cities
"Sport, Public Policies and Citizenship. Challenges of an Educating City”
April 22, 23 and 24, 2010, Expo Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

The International Association of Educating Cities (IAEC) and the Guadalajara’s Municipality will host the 11th International Congress of Educating Cities “Sport, Public Policies and Citizenship. Challenges of an Educating City" on April 22, 23 and 24, 2010. The main objective of this International Congress is generate to shared knowledge on sport and its relations with democratic coexistence, educability, sociability, public health, human development and in sum, the citizenship practice in the cities as a priority of public policies.

In terms of human coexistence, the progressive and rapid urbanization of the world is probably the most significant fact of this century. As cities are the main scenarios of social, cultural, economic and political experience, they become in many levels a privileged ground for the citizen’s education. The IAEC has thus recognized explicitly, and in almost twenty years of existence promotes the right to an educating city, which is inherent to all the strata and groups of the population. The educating city promotes training and development of all its inhabitants.  In this context, the sport can constitute an important educational and social cohesion element in urban areas which refers to the renewal of the social fabric constantly stalked by the risk of fracture.

Today, more than four hundred cities around the world have assumed as educating cities. A large number of experiences are developed under this framework, which extends in various domains of social life, giving rise to a strong tradition of communication between the different educating cities throughout International Congresses. In those congresses, the exchange of ideas and experiences allows sharing knowledge, analysis and critical reflections, and also the educating cities commitment can be demonstrated throughout tangible policies and projects. In addition to this, the plenary sessions and other complementary activities (round tables, dialogs and meetings) provide opportunities for learning and sharing reflections.

In order to develop the 11th International Congress theme we have proposed five thematic areas that will guide cities experiences selection. These must be innovative, recent, creative and respond to current urban problems.

• Sport, health, leisure and environment, actions that highlights the practice of sporting activity as a factor for improving health, life quality, responsible leisure time use, and also the promotion of respectful relation with the physical environment.
• Sport, social inclusion and citizen participation, sport as social inclusion mechanism through specific policies that promote sports practices as part of the rights of citizens, with special attention to people with disabilities, elder people and vulnerable groups, in order to reduce imbalances in access and opportunities, and maximize participants social capital. The sport as a mobilization instrument on the cities development priorities, where sport promotes the citizen participation.
• Sport, public policies and urban space, the physical activity promotion in suitable urban spaces, and the systematic construction and preservation of public spaces, equipment and necessary resources for the sports practice.
• Sport and peace culture, sports activities considered not only as individual physical activation, but also collective and, therefore, as a mean, among others, that facilitates pacific coexistence, social cohesion, peace promotion, solidarity and city and communities conflicts prevention. As well as the intergenerational and intercultural relationships promotion.
• Sport and values education, intentional practices in which sport is the tool to transmit values such as mutual respect, effort, discipline, teamwork, commitment, friendship, among others.

IAEC member cities are invited: authorities, officials of local governments and entities of the civil society whose work is recognized by the local administration, interested in the issues above reported, to participate in the 11th International Congress of Educating Cities, under the following participation forms:

1. Workshops

Experiences presentations related to the 11th Congress themes. The recognition of one initiative as good practicemeans that it has benefited the community and implies that valuable lessons come from it and can be shared by other cities.
Each good practice resolves in a unique way the treatment of one or more themes by different associated cities.
The proposed experiences must be creative ones, arising from a direct contact with the local level demands and needs, implemented by diverse social actors that articulate knowledge, expertise and resources.
Presentation time will be maximum 10 minutes and 30 minutes discussion within each 2 hours session. Success of sessions relies on a clear and concise communication. All meeting rooms will have LCD projectors and screens to perform power point or video presentations.

2. Poster presentations

Presentation of local initiatives that should be implemented briefly, visual and graphically appealing, in a free format that does not exceed 1.0 x 1.20 meters measures, which will be made available to participants at no charge. Those responsible for the initiative may interact directly with participants at the XI International Congress of Educating Cities interested in the poster, which will offer spaces with screens and appropriate scheduled time, having interpreters for this activity.
The Organizing Committee shall promptly communicate the final decision based on the availability of time and exhibition space.

Notes:
All proposals will be evaluated by the 11th International Congress Scientific Committee. The Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee reserve the right to assign a different presentation format from the one selected by the presenting author, as well as the contributions distribution by thematic axes.
All sessions will have simultaneous translation. The poster space will have consecutive translation.

3. Plenary Sessions

The 11th International Congress Scientific Committee will organize the plenary sessions, and will invite outstanding personalities in all the Congress issues.

4. Visits

A guided visit to Guadalajara’s educating experiences.
Registration and submission of experiences deadline
You can be registered through internet from the congress' web site www.guadalajara.gob.mx/cdeducadora/.
The submission of experiences will be open from September to November 30, 2009.
In January 2010 the Scientific Committee will send a notification of acceptance submissions and the way the presentation should be (poster or workshop).

Registration fees

Payment of Fees

Cancellations or changes must be notified in writing to xicongresoaice2@gmail.com. Once payment is received in full the following cancellation policy will apply:

• Until March 22, 2010 will receive a refund of fees paid after bank services deduction.
• Changes of person attending the Congress will be only accepted before April 1, 2010. Requests must be submitted to Dirección General de Educación del Ayuntamiento de Guadalajara by email.