The Question of Inclusive Society: An Athenian Dialogue between History and Future

A new European architecture, known as the New European Bauhaus, is about improving our daily lives, focusing on better living together in more beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive places. It is about bridging global challenges with local solutions to achieve our climate targets and support a broader transformation on the ground. A triangle of three inseparable values guides the New European Bauhaus: i) sustainability, from climate goals, to circularity, zero pollution, and biodiversity, ii) aesthetics, quality of experience and style, beyond functionality, iii) inclusion, valorising diversity, equality for all, accessibility and affordability.

Inclusive Society is a “society for all”, a society in which every individual has an active role to play. The crucial question is if an inclusive society can be based on respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, cultural and religious diversity, social justice, and the special needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Francis Fukuyama accepts that Plato had a better understanding of human nature than Rousseau (Fukuyama Francis Identity. The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, “Farrar, Straus and Giroux”, New York, 2018, p. 36). The answers of the learned Metropolitan of Athens Michael Choniatis (1182-1204) have timeless value, which reaches to this day. The timeless value of all these answers reaches today an interest contemporary dialogue between history and future.