Printer-friendly versionDevelopment, learning and the management of place
The P in PASCAL stands for Place. Much is said within PASCAL and some other network communities about the importance of place. Learning regions and cities have been central to Observatory discourse and activity since the Observatory was created following an international OECD conference on universities and regional [place] development in 2002. The idea has been very practically applied especially of late in East Asian countries, right down to neighbourhood and street block level in big cities and recognised as crucial by UNESCO through its Global Learning Cities Platform created in 2013. PASCAL itself fosters dialogue and analysis of the learning cities movement via Learning Cities 2020.
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Without learning by communities and political systems, ie changing our behaviour from reflecting on experience, development will fail, or at the least be incomplete, short-sighted and unbalanced. It is not only individuals that learn.
PASCAL is about good Governance as well as technical management. With ever-larger and more complex systems – nation-states, global-financial and other corporations, IT systems etc. – we realise that many high-level policy decisions will be barren without commitment and action down the line at local levels. If we are to carry out what we say we want to do, to survive and live better. Is it not essential that a committed and active citizenry works to achieve the results now willed, but not delivered through normal political process?
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The decentralisation of national policy and practice to regional and local levels in both unitary and federal nation states. What are the challenges presented by devolution? Why do governments say that will empower locally yet do the opposite? What lessons and answers do we find in different countries and regions. more...Do we find a pattern of chronic national impasse to local solutions? Is practical decentralisation essential to mobilise active and responsible communities citizens? Why does the learning towns and cities movement seem to be so stop-start? This theme will be facilitated by Mike Osborne, supported by Peter Welsh, Balazs Nemeth and others. |
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PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE) by Peter Kearns Feb 18 2015 - 09:10 |
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Is there a crisis of apathy and loss of belief in the political process? more...In many prosperous countries people turn away from the electoral process. There is falling party membership and low electoral turn-outs. Single issue social media campaigns command more interest. If Western democracy (what Churchill called "...the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried") fails in the teeth of rapid change and mind-boggling complexity, what might work better? Is it the more authoritarian systems where choice is largely an illusion? Have ideological and religious passion, or simply power, deserted parliament for virtual and street action, with strong leaders and compliant citizens? If so, is it inevitable, or what can be done to change it? Is there a real place here for lifelong learning and learning city strategies? This theme will be led and moderated by Hans Schuetze and others. |
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Learning Cities Networks (LCN) by Steve Rubin Jan 30 2015 - 15:02 |
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