Research Projects
This section presents the research activities connected to the development of the Virtual Center for the Study of Global Asymmetries. The Center represents an evolution of previous research trajectories, bringing together distinct projects under a broader and more integrated analytical framework.
Earlier research initiatives were not originally conceived within a unified structure. They addressed specific themes and case studies across different fields, including tourism policies, science and technology in international relations, and sustainable urban mobility. While diverse in scope, these projects shared a common concern with uneven development, the role of institutions and expertise, and the distribution of resources, opportunities, and visibility across different contexts.
The establishment of the Virtual Center marks a shift toward a more explicit and systematic focus on asymmetries as a central analytical category. It builds on the insights generated by earlier research, reinterpreting them within a broader perspective that connects economic, social, and cultural inequalities at the global level.
Within this framework, the research agenda for the period 2025–2030 is centered on the study of global asymmetries in a comparative perspective. Particular attention is devoted to the interconnections between economic inequalities, social marginality, and cultural hierarchies, as well as to the ways in which asymmetries are produced, reproduced, and contested across different domains.
A key feature of this research direction is the integration of cultural fields into the analysis of inequality. Sport, subcultures, popular music beyond Anglophone and Western contexts, and visual media are examined as critical sites in which asymmetries become visible, are negotiated, and may be challenged.
At the same time, ongoing and past projects continue to provide essential empirical and methodological foundations for the Center’s work. Research on overtourism and destination policies highlights how political choices and interpretive frameworks can produce both overconcentration and marginalization within specific territories. Studies on science, technology, and international relations explore the asymmetrical relationships between expertise, decision-making, and global positioning. Research on sustainable urban mobility contributes a long-term perspective on the unequal distribution of access to infrastructure, public space, and environmental resources.
Taken together, these projects form a coherent research environment in which different approaches and case studies converge toward a shared objective: understanding the complexity of asymmetries in both historical and contemporary contexts.
The Center will continue to expand these lines of inquiry through new projects, collaborations, and the integration of research and teaching activities.
Concluding Statement
By placing asymmetries at the core of its research agenda, the Virtual Center aims not only to analyze inequalities, but to rethink the categories through which global processes are interpreted. It seeks to move beyond fragmented approaches, fostering a critical perspective in which economic structures, social relations, and cultural forms are understood as deeply interconnected dimensions of global asymmetry.
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