Universal Forum of Cultures
This UNESCO conference, held in Barcelona from 6 to 8 September 2004, brought together over 40 distinguished speakers from politics, academia and international organization. This publication features essays based on their contributions, with nine thematic chapters addressing the key-topics explored at the event. The award ceremony of the UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize was held during the conference.
While globalization has brought peoples closer together, it has also been accompanied by the emergence, or re-emergence, of disturbing forms of ignorance. The Conference will focus on four of them: ignorance of cultural diversity, ignorance of the Other, ignorance of ethics and ignorance of the future.
It will seek to define the knowledge, values and competencies, as well as the skills needed to overcome these forms of ignorance and to favour learning about each other, developing the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, increasing communication between peoples, and fostering shared values.