CR&DALL SEMINAR SERIES 2012 - 2013

Tuesday 26 March, 1.00-2.00pm Venue: Teaching Room, Ground Floor, Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, 25 Bute Gardens, Glasgow

-------------------------------IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ADAM SMITH RESEARCH FOUNDATION

60 min Brainstorm Cross-sectoral Approaches to Building Sustainable Opportunity Cities

Led by: Dr. Peter Kearns
Director, Global Learning Services, Australia, Co- director of PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE)

Respondents: Dr. Roberta Piazza and Professor Norman Longworth ---------------------------------------Preamble Cities almost everywhere are challenged by a raft of big issues resulting from on-going urbanisation, environment protection issues, public safety concerns, and demographic change in a context of growing inequality in many countries, social fragmentation and decline in social capital, high unemployment, and overall more individualistic societies. These challenges provide the context for the PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE), initiated by the PASCAL International Observatory (which has its European base at the University of Glasgow) to provide for online exchanges of ideas and experience between cities around the world. At present 16 cities across 5 continents participate in PIE. These include Beijing,

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Cork, Bielefeld and a number of African cities (Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Dakar, Gaborone, Addis Ababa). Summary stimulus papers for all cities may be read on the PIE web site (http://pie.pascalobservatory.org) Although PIE was initiated with a traditional view of a learning city, the need for cross-sectoral integration soon became evident from the situation in some African and East Asian cities such as Taipei. The PIE EcCoWell paper notes the common interests shared by sectoral initiatives such as Green Cities, Healthy Cities, Learning Cities, and Safe Cities and poses the question of how such sectoral initiatives can best be integrated in more holistic approaches to good city development. Questions for brainstorming: 1. In what ways can cross-sectoral perspectives and research be brought to bear on the development of sustainable opportunity cities? 2. How can initiatives in local communities benefit from insights from crosssectoral research? 3. What are the priority issues for research in addressing the big issues confronting cities? 4. In what ways might insights from cross-sectoral research contribute to the themes of the PASCAL Hong Kong conference?

BIOGRAPHIES Dr Peter Kearns is Co-director of the PASCAL International Exchanges. As Director of International Relations in the Australian Department of Education and Science he acquired a lifelong interest in educational and cultural relations between countries. He served in Paris for three years as a member of the Australian Delegation to OECD. He has been involved in learning community development in Australia since 1999 and has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the innovative Hume Global Learning Village in Melbourne since 2003. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and was the inaugural Visiting Research Fellow of Adult Learning Australia. Peter was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his service to education and training. Dr Roberta Piazza is Associate Professor of Adult Education in the University of Catania (Italy). She is project manager and coordinator of the postgraduate course Expertise in Job Placement Services and is the key staff member for the J. Monnet Programme New skills for new challenges: sharing and boosting knowledge on European policies. She is a staff member on the International PHD in Education programme (University of Rome, Tor Vergata and University of Granada, Spain) and she has taken part in several European research projects on lifelong learning and learning cities. She is a delegate of the Faculty in the Centre for Continuing Education at Catania and is an Executive Board member of the Commission for European Research Projects in the Faculty. Her research work concerns education methodologies, adult education, lifelong learning and lifelong guidance.

Professor Norman Longworth is an author, private consultant, academic and project manager whose main activity and expertise is now in the domain of Learning Cities, Towns and Regions. He has managed other European and global projects in the field of learning cities, including the Pallace, Lilliput, LILARA and PENR3L projects. After successfully managing, in 1998-2000, the European Commissions TELS project, he was asked to write the policy document that gave rise to the European Commissions strategy on the local and regional dimension of Lifelong Learning. His most recent book is Perspectives on Learning Cities and Regions Policy, Practice and Participation. He was President of the European Lif elong Learning Initiative and Vice-President of the World Initiative on Lifelong Learning and was the holder of the IBM/UNESCO Chair of Information Technology and Education at the University of Southampton. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling.

Questions and discussion are encouraged as part of the Seminar.

The UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network (UNESCO-GLCN) is supported by

While the CR&DALL Seminar Series is free and open to all, we do ask that you register in order to allow us to plan accommodation and refreshments. Places are available on a first-come-first-served basis. If you intend to come along to the Seminar please e-mail us at cradall@educ.gla.ac.uk and provide your name, institution/department (if appropriate) and a daytime contact telephone number (in case of cancellation). Thank you. CR&DALL, Room 614, School of Education, University of Glasgow, St. Andrew's Building, Eldon St., GLASGOW G3 6NH 0141 330 1833 www.gla.ac.uk/departments/cradall/