Mike Osborne and John Tibbitt make a compelling case in PASCAL Policy Briefing 5 [1] that connecting adult education and place is a vital task of learning cities. They moreover give a useful list of policy drivers for this purpose. However, in looking around it is difficult to see where this is happening so that the need exists to probe the barriers and opportunities further to identify necessary steps in forging this desired nexus.
With this in mind I scanned the 22 city stimulus papers in the PIE web site looking for action that could progress towards this nexus. This scan led me to focus on two PIE stimulus papers : New York and Sydney with a further glance at Beijing and Shanghai.
New York
I wrote the New York PIE stimulus paper after a visit to New York in 2013 and discussions with the CEO of the New York based Project for Public Spaces, Fred Kent on the work of this organisation. The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) grew out of the work of William Whyte and Jane Jacobs on place making . PPS projects such as the New York Streets Renaissance have demonstrated these concepts in practical projects. Further initiatives in New York, such as the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park, show place making in action and show how heritage can be given a new face to add to the quality of place. Much of place making initiatives in New York have been directed at empowering local communities in areas such as preserving heritage with Historic District legislation ,for example, leading to over 100 declared Historic Districts under this legislation.
The work of PPS in promoting place making has now become international with the role of the Placemaking Leadership Council extending across a wide range of countries while projects such as the PPS joint initiative with UN Habitat have served to extend place making ideas around the world, including in developing countries.
While much has been achieved in New York and elsewhere in promoting place making ideas, lifelong learning and learning communities are not part of this agenda, and educators are seldom involved in place making developments. The situation is one of two trains running on parallel lines towards a common destination.
City of Sydney
The city of Sydney offers another model which also has place making value with some steps towards community learning strategies. Sydney City Council developed planning for Sydney as a “City of Villages” with ten urban villages each with its own Local Action Plan developed in consultation with the community and linked to the Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategic plan for the city.
Local Action Plans include various place making ideas such as parts and green development, libraries and facilities, and public space development. Involving the community in this way has a community learning value while related programs of the Council such as Gold (Growing Older, Living Dangerously) support learning throughout all life phases.
The Sydney Urban Village model has the potential for further development in meeting both learning and place making objectives.
The Future
The separation of learning and place making action needs to be addressed in working towards 21st century sustainable learning cities. While the policy drivers given by Mike Osborne and John Tibbitt in their paper suggest key dimension in a long-term framework, the question also arises as to what steps can be taken now to progress the necessary convergence, and can PASCAL Networks have a role in such a development.
In this context, I suggest three options that could be considered by participants in Networks.
- Undertake a few pilot projects in local neighbourhoods.
- Develop collaboration between organisations and agencies promoting place making (PPS, Placemaking Leadership Council) and learning cities (UNESCO UIL, PASCAL).
- Encourage and advise a city level strategic approach, perhaps linked to follow up on the UNESCO Beijing Declaration and Key Features of Learning Cities.
Current developments in some cities linked to PASCAL may provide opportunities. For example, the current development in Limerick to extend the Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival through the whole County following the decision to amalgamate Limerick City and County Councils might provide opportunities to promote a holistic approach to placemaking and community learning ideas in some of the small towns and villages affected. Preserving and enhancing heritage in such communities could provide motivation.
While the Osborne and Tibbitt paper provides guidance for some longer term objectives, the challenge in building enterprising partnerships in cities is one requiring fresh ideas about cities for the future, a need well put by Clive James as a search for “the magic of poetic imagination on a civic scale”.