 I am glad to give a warm welcome to all of you and we are really glad that the following in agreement with the London School of Economics and the Herrhausen Foundation, and as a contribution to the dialogue that will take place in Quito on the occasion of United Nations Habitat III, the Urban Age Conference 2016 is organized within the Biennale, within the exhibition of architecture. We have much in common. You define the mission of Urban Age as an investigation. We qualify ourselves by saying that any of our activities is inspired by the spirit of the research. In the recent past we have given great impulse to the exhibition of architecture and the exhibition is itself the result of an investigation. It is the outcome of specific choices not a selection made on the basis of general criteria of merit. It seemed to us that in our times the gap between architecture and civil society has been widening. Architects have been called upon mainly in the hills of money and power, mainly for spectacular realizations. Year by year we develop our strategy of investigation through the choice of the curator. And the choice of the curator is not neutral. But once appointed the curator he is free to develop his research and make his choices. His autonomy promotes his authorship. Or authorship is essential. The exhibition of architecture is a challenge in itself. It's not a book. It's not an essay. It's not a review. It's not just an international meeting. It speaks its own language, the language of images. It transmits knowledge through the emotions that those images are capable of inducing. The exhibition lasts six months. It means that it is not only an event for specialists but for the public at large. It hosts meeting seminars organized by us as well as by other invited institutions. Whereas structured visits of scholars and students are organized by a number of faculties from all over the world. We share with you the view that architecture to be alive among us requires that nonarchitects are fully aware of its potential contribution to the improvement of the space we live in as individuals and as communities. Architecture is the most political among the arts. And this seems to suggest another reason for a fruitful relationship. La Biennale operates mainly in the world of the arts, you in the world of the social, economic and political sciences. Architecture in its broader meaning is a tool by which while satisfying private needs we can produce many public goods, increasing the total value added generated by each action or each investment, thus enhancing total wealth or well-being. And the opposite is true in its absence. Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations demonstrating that allowing each individual to pursue his ambitions can lead to a great social benefit. We should write together the wealth of cities where individual choices and free competition are not enough if not accompanied by effective actions of government inspired by foresight. Where a very visible hand is needed capable of enforcing direct interventions and or the setting up of efficient systems of incentives or disincentives towards individual choices. We know in fact that contrary to what assumes the pure market theory, i.e. that any action of today can be easily adjusted tomorrow in the development of cities, existing conditions can be deeply affected by what is done today with relevant durable consequences and positive but also negative cumulative effects. More in general, the relationship between costs and benefits as distributed among the individuals in space and time constitute a very complex geography and consequently is very high the need of institutions and political actions to bring consensus. It might be possible to find a solution that can improve the conditions of some without reducing the benefits of anyone among the others or strictly following the orthodox formula to make somebody better off without making anybody worse off but in general any possible action brings with it a chain of conflicting interests. A secondary theme of this exhibition is in fact the phenomenology by which desires, needs and wills firstly are developed in a correct and adequate representation and then matched by coherent actions and choices for their total or at least partial satisfaction. But here we come to the planned agenda of these two days to which we wish a very fruitful development. Once again, to everybody, welcome to the Biennale di Venezia. Thank you.