Enzo Mingione is Dean of The Faculty of Sociology and Professor of Sociology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He has previously taught at the Universities of Messina and Padua. He is among the founder editors of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Member of the Editorial Executive Board of the Journal Inchiesta, President of the Fondazione Bignaschi, Milano (Foundation for the assistance and study of the aged). He is presently Coordinator of the EU Research Training Network URBEUROPE (Urban Europe between Identity and Change) and Coordinator of the European Doctorate Urbeur “Urban and Local European Studies”, University of Milano-Bicocca. He has been constantly involved with international and Italian scientific journals and research groups and a consultant of the European Commission. His main fields of interest are poverty, social exclusion, informal sector, unemployment, economic and urban sociology. Among his books published in English: Social Conflict and the City, Blackwell, Oxford (1981); Fragmented Societies, Blackwell, Oxford (1991); (Ed) Urban poverty and the Underclass, Blackwell, Oxford (1996).