Future world citizens: the outcome of the encounter of different cultures and their relocation in the world map following today’s migration phenomenon.

The migration crisis is one of the most defying issues facing the world today, and to study it adequately constitutes an opportunity for the promotion of the positive aspects of encounter of populations in the construction of tomorrow’s world citizens. The application of the Social Representations Theory for the study of such group movements in their geo-cultural context provides an opportunity to understand future world citizens, investigating processes of social inclusion/exclusion in relation to contemporary migratory phenomena. A key element connected to the migration phenomenon is the need to have a thorough knowledge of geographic dimensions. In our theoretical and methodological perspective, world geography is not simply a “space-place” but a “geo-cultural context” involving a set of interrelated psycho-social scopes evoking iconic-imaginary representations linked to symbols, social memory, national, supranational and personal identity, cultural-normative expectations and feelings related to social representations of “humanity” in a world map landscape. The aim of this contribution, with the principal actors’ direct involvement in the study (migrants, relief agents and receiving communities), is to illustrate an on-going research program in its initial phases which wishes to add to the understanding of some of the psycho-social implications of today’s migration and population movements which will determine the citizens of tomorrow. The articulate relation between research lines involving “media” and “field” studies applying specific instruments and methodologies will be shown together with the potentiality of developing policies aimed at social inclusion.