The call for submissions is now open for the thematic dossier “Youth and Cities that Educate and Transform,” to be published in the Video Journal of Social and Human Research. This initiative invites researchers to share reflections, experiences, and productions in text and video formats on the role of youth in building more educational, inclusive, and transformative cities.

The dossier seeks to bring together studies that examine how young people live in, produce, and reinvent urban spaces through educational practices, territorial occupations, social mobilizations, and cultural initiatives. From the perspective of youth experiences, the aim is to reflect on the city as a territory of learning, participation, and social change.

Developed within the framework of the UNESCO Chair – The City that Educates and Transforms, the dossier engages directly with the principles of Educating Cities and proposes to reflect on the city as an educational, political, and affective territory. The city that educates is one that recognizes in its subjects—especially in youth—the creative force of other pedagogies, other ways of learning, and other ways of inhabiting the common space.

The dossier is organized by the researchers of the Chair Ana Patrícia Tavares de Almeida, Cristina Maria Lopes Pereira Vieira, and Susana Henriques (Universidade Aberta – Portugal), together with Victor Hugo Nedel Oliveira (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil). The initiative is developed in partnership with the Research Group on Youth and Space (GEPJUVE/UFRGS), the UNESCO Chair The City that Educates and Transforms, LE@D – Laboratory of Distance Education and eLearning, and the Centre for Global Studies of Universidade Aberta, Portugal.

Themes and Lines of Reflection

The dossier welcomes scientific articles, essays, and audiovisual productions that express the diversity of voices, languages, and experiences present in cities and among youth. Interdisciplinary contributions that articulate education, geography, sociology, anthropology, arts, communication, and cultural studies are especially valued, as well as research developed within the context of the UNESCO Chair and related networks.

We invite the entire academic community, researchers, professionals, and activists working with youth and cities to participate in this call and to contribute to the construction of a plural and innovative dialogue on the challenges and potentialities of contemporary youth.

Information and Submission Deadlines
Final deadline for submissions: March 20, 2026
Notification of reviewers’ decisions to authors: April 30, 2026
Submission of revised versions: May 29, 2026
Publication of the special dossier: June 30, 2026

For further information on submission guidelines and editorial policies, please visit the website of the Video Journal of Social and Human Research