Deprived Urban Areas: RegGov Infographic
Bottom-Up vs Top-Down Procedures for Achieving a Bottoms-Down System: A Benchmark Christmas Tale
Imagine, if you will, that a few everyday folk decide to put a bench in a public square in their local neighbourhood. What could be easier? All they need is four breeze-blocks and a plank. It would take them about five minutes to set it up and the whole business would be finished with no time or space wasted; there would be no money wasted either; last, but not least, a local need would be almost instantaneously satisfied, while the whole structure would also be recyclable. This is what we might refer to as a bottom-up process – one leading to a highly satisfactory, bottoms-down sort of behaviour! Unfortunately such a swashbuckling procedure might well lead to the immediate consignment of the bench to the dustbins of history by the authorities owing to non-compliance with urban planning rules. Those responsible for it might well be forced to stand before a court of justice…
Let us now imagine that some overarching body or other, such as a town hall or a ministry declares this bench to be a “public” bench and, furthermore, to be a system for promoting social cohesion, one which will develop citizen participation and democracy. After all, people could then sit down in public together and sustain long conversations about sustainable development in their city.
Substantial public funds will now be allocated to the bench project within the framework of a multi-level contract policy, complemented by a request for further funding from the EU. Given the strategic importance of the project and given also the irresistible growth in spatial Balkanisation, the now geological-scale Layers of political and administrative “responsibility”, the Sectorisation of skills and services (the famous BL-S…), a vast panoply of aldermen, vice-presidents, directors, departmental heads will soon be au courant of the project, providing, that is, they can all be contacted, given the huge numbers involved. They will give forth opinions and counter opinions, all brilliantly presented and backed up, concerning the appropriateness and necessity of such a facility, its location and the inputs required for it. All this will of course be accompanied by the necessary permits, authorisations, rules for its use and cost estimates in terms of future frequentation worked out using EXCEL +++. The bench will probably take two or three years to be set up; it will no doubt be placed in the spot where local residents wanted it the least and completed when such street furniture is no longer in vogue. It is indeed quite possible that the bench will never come into existence at all, despite the expensive research contracts on which a multitude of shady organisations batten. This is the usual upshot of these top-down procedures in which we are all mired.
We all know that top-down and bottom-up procedures rarely meet up. This is referred to in France as the efficient optimisation of the Revision Generale des Politiques Publiques (the Reform for New Public Management).
Any resemblance between the foregoing and actual fact is purely coincidental.
And after all, as we say in my region, Savoy, all this is not as bad as if it were worse.
It’s Christmas! Bottoms down and bottoms up everybody!
Claude Jacquier
A bonkers benchmarker, one among an ever growing number of others
More about URBACT Infodays !
URBACT Infodays will take place in most European Union member or partner states between December and the end of January. Their aims are to draw lessons from past cities’ participation in URBACT in each country and to prepare the future by presenting the third Call for proposals for URBACT projects.
on Monday 19th of December- after Oslo, Budapest and Warsaw - the URBACT Infoday France took place in Saint Denis.
It was the opportunity for French cities to exchange on their experiences.
Some cities involved in the past in URBACT projects presented their outputs and follow-up. For instance Limoges, lead Partner of UNIC (Urban Network for Innovation in Ceramics), focused on the fact that cooperation between UNIC cities continued after the end of the project. Today, they still collaborate to set up the European and International Roads of Ceramics designed as a global strategy for territorial development.
The representative of the city of Amiens presented its involvement as project partners (as opposed to Lead partner). Using the experiences from the project WEED (Women, Enterprise and Employment in Local Development), the municipality has managed to build and run a strategy to foster women entrepreneurship. The city now implements initiatives from its Local Action Plan inspired by other cities’ good practices.
The second objective of URBACT Infodays is to explain the terms of reference of the third call for proposals.
The call aims at the set up of 19 new thematic networks. It is open until Thursday, March 15th 2012.
To fit with the EU 2020 strategy, URBACT has defined a thematic coverage around 3 topics (8 sub-topics in total) : Innovative, sustainable and inclusive cities. Below you’ll find a short description of each theme.
Innovative cities: this theme covers the ways to promote innovation and the knowledge economy, social innovation, employment and labour mobility and finally entrepreneurship.
Sustainable cities: this theme covers the development of low-carbon and energy-efficient urban economies, as well as the enhancement of urban planning performance and of an efficient public administration.
Inclusive cities: this theme covers active inclusion of specific groups, regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods and the ways to combat poverty.
Regardless of the theme chosen for application, all candidates should make sure they address the following 3 cross-cutting issues:
- How to manage urban development in the context of the economic and financial crisis
- How to foster integrated and sustainable approaches to urban development
- How to develop efficient partnerships and multi-level governance processes
To ensure a smooth implementation of each URBACT project, proposals follow up a two stage process:
The first stage is the « development phase ». It enables partner cities to get to know each other and to strengthen their common expectations in working together. To get to this stage and be selected, cities have to submit a proposal called « Declaration of interest » involving 5 cities (Lead partner included) from 3 countries (from both Convergence and Competitiveness regions). The development phase budget can go up to 100 000 euros (including ERDF and local contribution).
The submission of the « Final application » at the end of the development phase is the second stage, the « Implementation phase ». The Final application gives more input on the quality and relevance of project proposals and allows the panel to approve projects to enter in their 27-month implementation phase, during which cities develop their activities and outputs. In this phase the number of partner cities should increase to reach 8 up to 12 partner cities. The budget can go up to 700 000 euros to lead exchange and learning at the transnational level, draw lessons and disseminate results, apply lessons at local level and build capacity of stakeholders.
For more information in your country, check out the dates of the next URBACT Infodays in Portugal, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and Netherlands, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Latvia-Estonia and Lithuania, Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria, Germany and Romania.
Read more:
- 3rd call for proposal presentation - URBACT website
- Project proposal database - URBACT website
- Why getting involved - URBACT webiste
- URBACT Projects - URBACT website
- Find a Thematic Expert - URBACT website
by urbactwebpartners
Who should be happier: people or cars?
Photomontage, showing the desired transformation of the main arterial road through the city, the Slovenska street. Source: ZaMestoPoDveh, 2010.
A
As Slovenia’s capital and regional centre, Ljubljana has the typical problems of a large and attractive city. Predictably, it is constantly overcrowded with cars and therefore just getting around town, is a constant problem, especially during the rush hours,when, given the extreme congestion, using either a car or public transport is nearly impossible. Cycling, on the other hand, is not as time consuming, but unfortunately it’s not as safe either since so many of the traffic and bicycle lanes are not well organised or delineated. But all is not lost, as for some years now the municipal department has been looking for a solution to this problem, and this “experts’” debate has, along with popular public opinion, devolved into two camps, each with their own demands and arguments.
On the one side there are the advocates of the mobility for cars, pushing for widened avenues as well as more underground parking places in the city centre. They speak in favour of a car friendly city, a city adapted to cars, reflecting the American model. But theirs is not the only vision for a more mobile Ljubljana.
On the other side, there are those who claim there is a more sustainable model, with better conditions and more “human” means of transport, pushing to improve the efficiency of and ultimately for a broader use of public transportation.
Stuck in the middle is the municipal department, which has already started planning broader avenues, calling for the demolition of many buildings, but because of the heated debate they have postponed these plans for the time being. In the meantime the short-term plan to introduce a yellow lane to replace two of the current lanes for cars along the main arterial road through the city, has also been postponed and is still a subject of discussion between experts from both groups.
While analysing this present discourse we came to the conclusion that there is still an essential aspect missing, for representatives of both groups never fully address the social perspective. For example, the arguments of the “green” camp are mainly concentrated on sustainability linked to a healthy lifestyle, the concept of a liveable, eco-friendly city.
A “liveable city” is usually understood as the Danish urban architect Jan Gehl understands it, building on the ideas brought forward 50 years ago by Jane Jacobs. The aim is to create a lively, attractive, healthy, sustainable and safe urban space. As Gehl puts it, the main mistake urban planners have been making for years is attempting to make the cars “happy” rather than the people.
We agree. It is time to focus on the people and make them happy. We believe that the so often overlooked social perspective has to be brought forward in this discussion. If the social and spatial factors of an urban way of life function properly, they stimulate the inclusion of the otherwise socially
excluded.
Effective and simple accessibility for different people, services and places creating such a wide variety of possibilities, are the basic characteristics and advantages of the urban way of life, particularly when compared to failed urban models as well as the rural model.
The very complexity of a city, emphasized by Jacobs, and the wide range of choices it can bring to the table can be crucially important means for overcoming social inequality. However, this is only possible when every individual has access to express and hopefully incorporate his or her own wishes, regardless of one’s geographical or social position.
So, what do we do with the people who cannot own a car or don’t know how to drive a car - meaning the very young, the old and the handicapped, for instance? This question never appears in the debate we are analysing either.
Thus a city and transportation programs organised in favour of cars means excluding those people. Currently, the system of traffic regulation in Ljubljana privileges cars compared to other means of transportation and consequently excludes a part of the urban population.
If we promote the car as the king of the street it prevents many underprivileged individuals access to their desired destinations as efficiently as the car owners and drivers.
In such a car dominant Ljubljana it becomes an incredible challenge for those not using cars to even get around the city let alone arrive at their destinations in a timely fashion.
,
Also, it is important to point out that every citizen could find oneself in a position in which he or she is not capable of driving or owning a car. Not only luck can change for any of us at any time, but we will also all be old sooner or later and many of us have small children, so all of us could sooner or later find ourselves in an underprivileged situation.
Nevertheless, those who already are in such a position, feel the consequences of ineffective urban mobility right here and right now. Clearly, the use of public space and public transport on a daily basis is of crucial importance also for sociability, for on the one hand it allows for meeting people we know and on the other hand it enables contacts with total strangers. Meeting strangers on a daily basis is essential for maintenance of tolerance and accepting of social and ethnic differences in any urban setting where peaceful cohabitation is the goal. Individual mobility only by car hinders those contacts. Children and young people are being prevented from gaining these social skills in daily interactions, if they are being constantly transported by car. Their gradual emancipation from their parents or carers is hindered, if they cannot go to school by themselves. Old people find themselves in a similar situation to children. If public transportation of sufficient quality enables them to plan their daily life independently they have a freedom of choice. Similarly to the young ones, this gives them a feeling of power over their own life.
By considering the social perspective new factors are being revealed that can have strong positive influences on the lives of people. As we highlighted, it is not just about nicely arranged public places and efficient public transport. It is the lively, safe and healthy environment that makes the difference. It is not for those who can choose either to use alternative means of transportation or not, it is for those, who cannot choose - to leave them a wide range of choices that a city has to offer.
So if we include the social perspective in the current public discussion on transportation solutions in Ljubljana, it becomes obvious that one of the two opposing views has more to offer to more people, especially the unprivileged ones, than the other. If the city of Ljubljana wants to ensure equal choices and increased possibilities for everyone, it has to stimulate sustainable transportation. It not only anticipates social mobility, but also awakes other processes and phenomena that create a liveable, loveable city.
By Petra Očkerl, IPoP, National Dissemination Point in Slovenia
Read more:
- Original article - IPoP website (in Slovenian)
- Active Travel network - URBACT Website
Do you know URBACT National Dissemination Points ?
The main role of the National Dissemination Points (NDP) is to present information about the URBACT program and projects in national languages and thereby to make available to non- English speaking audience, information about integrated urban development. It thereby reaches a larger scale of urban practitioners around Europe.
The National Dissemination Points have not been created by URBACT, they are existing websites dedicated to urban affairs in their countries. They make space available on their website for URBACT news and content.
NDPs provide a chance to further disseminate experiences of European cities of urban sustainable development and to involve more people than the ones directly connected to the project to share this knowledge and ideas.
The monthly newsbulletin presents detailed information on results of URBACT projects for instance, as well as information important for cities in each country, such as the dates and places of the Information Days during which cities will have a change to get more information on the next possibilities to join the project. You can access last newsbulletin in Spanish here or in German here for instance.
The NDPs also present the work developed by the cities in their countries inside URBACT under a variety of formats:
- Presentations of cities and URBACT projects – see for instance Slovenian cities here
- Descriptions of projects –In German here the description of FIN-URB-ACT
- Results of an URBACT Project in one National City – for instance Hungarian city of Kőbányai in RegGov project
- Interviews – Here in Spanish an interview with Joan López Redondo, Director of urban studies at the institure of territorial studies of Cataluna.
It therefore offers a great opportunity for cities participating in URBACT projects to make known to the residents of their cities and countries the results of their projects.
NDPs have also sent regular updates and information on urban development in their cities, to be found on this blog or on the URBACT website.
You can find for instance the description of a project involving young people in Utrecht in the Netherlands, on promoting digital culture for older people in Cornellà de Llobregat in Spain or on Parliament Palace in Bucharest, Romania.
There are currently NDPs in 21 European countries:
Austria (OEROK), Bulgaria (National Association of Municipal Clerks in Bulgaria), Belgium (SPP – Service Politique des Grandes Villes), Czech Republic (Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic ), Denmark( www.urbact.dk), France (Ministère de la Ville), Greece (Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness & Shipping), Germany (Deutscher Verband ), Hungary (VATI), Italy (UNICH), Latvia ( Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments), Lithuania (Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania), Luxembourg (Cellule Nationale d’information pour la politique urbaine ), The Netherlands (NICIS), Norway (www.interreg.no), Poland (www.urbact.pl), Portugal (Ministério do Ambiente e do Ordenamento do Território, Direcção-Geral do Ordenamento do Território e Desenvolvimento Urbano ), Romania (Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism / Infocooperare ), Slovenia ( TRAJEKT), Sweden (City of Malmo), Spain (Ecosistema Urbano)
URBACT wants the presentations in national languages to improve in the next two years, that’s why it proposes to the NDPs new types of activities and roles, to reach a more dynamic presentation of URBACT and websites updated more often!
Currently new websites can apply to become NDPs as you can see in the Open Call. Applications can be received until the 16th of December at noon. So if you are interested, follow the steps indicated in the tender rules.
Addressing Climate Change at Local Level…
With the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban this last week, it has got me wondering how we can seek to address its issues at a local level. After all, if all politics is local, with the challenge of climate change and global warming that is facing us all, isn’t this the ultimate local question?
In Durban, and at the preceding conferences in Cancun and Copenhagen, the focus has been on extending the Kyoto protocol; addressing global warming by stabilising and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At first glance it appears there is little we can do about these truly global problems, but is that the case?
In the URBACT funded EVUE project, cities are discussing how they can best aid the transition to electro mobility to address the challenges posed by the internal combustion engine – not least the emissions of greenhouse gases. With the growing urbanisation of people across the world, and more people in cities than rural areas for the first time in history, this is a clear example of how cities are required to take a lead and the global has become local.10% of the global population live in only 100 cities , if each of those cities adopted e-mobility as the plan for the future, the reduction on global emissions could be significant.
But how are cities supposed to do this? Especially given the financial challenges affecting us all? Isn’t this a luxury we cannot afford at this time?
The Mayor of Lisbon Antonio Costa was recently asked what his motivation was for investing in electric mobility and was it a vote winner? His response “”I don’t think so,” the mayor replied. “Right now the number of users of electric cars is small. For a long time we will have more parking spaces for electric cars than people using them. But it’s a duty of politicians to anticipate the needs of the future.” (author’s emphasis)
While Mayor Costa may be seen as particularly visionary, it is a clear illustration of the global being local. So what can the individual do?
One model that URBACT suggests is the formation of Local Support Groups which bring together diverse stakeholders to address these common challenges. Too often, local discussions are framed by ‘us’ and ‘them’ positions. A Local Support Group works by bringing all stakeholders in and its by working together we can achieve the benefits for all. But it needs all stakeholders – not just the usual suspects of industry and policy makers, but the citizens, academics, young, old and business people.
Through working together and developing a new way of responding to the challenges, we can overcome the barriers and find the opportunities that will address the issues we are facing. Where the global has become local, the local can now be global.
Read more:
- EVUE project - URBACT website
Matthew Noon
EVUE Lead Partner
Doing more with less : Cities in the financial crisis
Across Europe the economic crisis dominates headlines. Public funding is under enormous pressure with budget cuts taking place across the EU’s public sector so cities have to address their challenges with fewer resources than before. In this climate of austerity local leaders need to work smart to make sure that policies and local initiatives are efficient enough to generate growth, create jobs and combat exclusion whilst protecting the environment.
Across Europe the message is clear – we need to do more for less. Indeed in some cases the challenge may even be to do more with almost nothing. How do cities act and react in this context?
ESIMeC partners have put people at the heart of their economic recovery and resilience plans. The transnational work and local action plans all tackle the challenge of workforce development from a different angle.
The downturn has highlighted the vulnerability of workers who are no longer essential to production processes due to either low skills, or “old skills”. In the future, cities will need to build a more skilled workforce which is less expendable, more adaptable to change and better able to transfer within and between economic sectors. However, it is not enough to just invest in the supply of skills. Employers also need to address the organisation of their workplaces so as to better harness the skills of their workers, and create more sustainable employment opportunities in the future. This is particularly important in small and medium sized towns, which can find it hard to attract and retain good quality jobs and where qualified young people leave to look for better jobs elsewhere.
Cities are in the driving seat
To get more from the limited funds available, cities have to maximise every opportunity to foster growth. Different policies and programmes can no longer be developed in isolation. Major infrastructure development projects for example can be defined strategically in order to help secure maximum employment and inclusion potential for the local population. Cities have a duty to build better links between skills and economic development policies with skills and human capital being a key priority for economic development in the 21st century.
One shift that could make a big difference is the way that interventions are coordinated. At present many public authorities work in policy “silos”. This approach is often derived from long term traditions and organisational cultures but it is not effective. Modern economic and societal issues are complex and require a more integrated and holistic approach.
This is the theme of ESIMeC’s 6th transnational event in Sabadell at the end of November 2011.
Can we really do more with less?
The world in which cities operate is vastly different from ever before and represents a major challenge. The way that cities operate also has to change radically if they are to succeed in addressing new challenges in the context of a reduced public sector purse. The discussions within the ESIMeC project have already highlighted some important policy principles for cities:
Cities can use people as their key asset and driver for sustainable and inclusive economic recovery.
Investing in workforce is not a zero cost solution and it requires a real commitment from public and private sector stakeholders alike. It can however be a reasonably low cost option with high levels of return on investment both within individual companies and within the wider society and the economy as a whole. ESIMeC has looked at the role that the green economy, cultural and creative industries and the knowledge economy have to play in economic recover and resilience. People are at the heart of this landscape.
We also need to review the way we measure performance and success. Is it still appropriate, for example, to use metrics such as number of people gaining employment or should we be considering more qualitative measures of impact to reflect the changing economy and labour market? If we want employers and cities to work together to invest in the workforce and drive economic growth new indicators are required which reflect the quality of the jobs created and the career progression available to workers.
Finally Partnership working is an integral part of this process. Pooling resources and expertise effectively to jointly address common local issues does not have to be expensive. It relies on strong leadership; a shared vision; a recognition that more will be achieved through collaboration than without it; clear roles and responsibilities and a shared will to succeed.
by Alison Partridge, Lead Expert for ESIMeC
Read more:
URBACT projects: Building on past experiences
URBACT enables European cities to work together in projects to share and capitalise on experience.
It enables the development of solutions to urban challenges that other cities can then adapt to their own context. It also has the role of analysing and capitalising on learning.
And when we speak of learning, it is both the actual knowledge developed by cities on integrated urban development, but also experience developed by cities while developing URBACT Projects!
Here you can read on a few ‘learning points’ that cities can pass to each other before new projects start next year!
The perfect time to pass on experience
URBACT, as many European Programmes has a limited timeframe. During its lifetime URBACT has already organised two calls for proposals (in 2008 and in 2010), as a result of which 37 projects have so far been selected.
The first wave of URBACT projects have now concluded their exchanges and delivered their final results, the second wave of projects run their implementation stage and new projects (the third wave) will be selected soon.
In the perspective of the new call for proposals for URBACT projects ( the 3rd call for tender planned for the period December 2011 to March 2012) and in order to make sure the experience of past projects benefits to new projects, two assessment days have been organised recently: one with the Lead Partners and Lead Experts of the completed projects (28-29 September 2011) and one with the projects in course (19th of October 2011).
‘The objective of the meetings is clearly to learn from the 3 years experience of finished projects in management and knowledge production. We are going to draw with them lessons and conclusions in order to improve the way project function in the future and to create a better environment for the 3rd call projects’, says Jean Loup Drubigny, Director of URBACT Secretariat
Some key learning points for ongoing and new projects
As they run their projects many cities develop extensive experience in organising transnational exchanges, supporting their partners and producing knowledge useful for urban practitioners all around Europe.
During the debriefing meetings, Lead Partners and Lead Experts of projects had the possibility to give input and exchange on the following matters: organisation of transnational meetings, URBACT Local support groups, communication around their projects, Local Action Plans and interim outputs and results.
Relating to transnational exchange, some cities have encountered difficulties to find the balance between transnational exchange and local activities. Some key practices, such as involving systematically members of the URBACT Local Support Groups (ULSG) in transnational meetings or planning simultaneous translation may help.
In what concerns outreach and impact of the project, together with a well functioning communication strategy, the involvement of the political representatives may prove useful. Political commitment of the elected representatives of the cities is not always there at the beginning! However, ensuring it from start and maintaining it as the project goes along helps increasing the impact of the URBACT project in the city. Of course, political changes may happen, but involving more systematically political representatives to key meetings may help face the impact of such changes.
As regards to the URBACT Local Support Groups (LSG), a way of improving them would be to brief the coordinators at the beginning of their action, so that they know how to manage the Local Support Group and what type of Local Action Plan they may be expected to deliver.
Of course, there are many other key points: on how to lead a successful communication and dissemination strategy for the project, how to deliver quality final publications, how to better relate to the Managing Authority of the project and involve them in delivering an efficient support to the project…but listing them all here would be too tedious.
I would prefer to let project partners, leaders and experts express key successes and learning point themselves on the web if they wish! Yes this is a clear request for comments!
Ségolène Pruvot, urbactwebpartners (@) gmail.com
Read more:
- URBACT – Our mission – URBACT Website
- URBACT – Our projects – URBACT Website
- URBACT – Project results – URBACT Website
- URBACT – Local Support Groups – URBACT Website
Helsinki: World Design Capital 2012
Helsinki, partner city in the URBACT CTUR project, has been designated “World Design Capital” in 2012: as Pekka Timonen, Director of the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 foundation, said, it is a ‘dynamic’ designation and not a ‘prize’.
Helsinki has been selected by the world design community. Focus is on the use of design for cultural, social and economic development, thus creating an additional visitor interest for Helsinki as a cruise destination. Helsinki was chosen because it is credible, it has a substantial design history, and that design is part of the national identity, providing intelligent solutions for everyday life, and a boost for innovation.
The political commitment and understanding of design is a competitive factor for well being too. Helsinki has over 10 000 design professionals, and design is seen as essential for business, the city has a strategy, and the EU is now taking design onto its agenda, considering design as a competitiveness factor: the new EU design agency is going to be based in Aalto University.
The city believes that design should be ‘embedded in life’, playing a key role. Design is a ‘creative human-centred’ way of approaching things: objects, methods, decision-making, services/public services, in a holistic view. Design is always about people, and about creating a good experience, often solving people’s problems, and concerns all of society: metropolitan areas, governments and NGOs.
Read more:
- Interview of the Mayor of Helsinki, CTUR Partner - URBACT website
- CTUR CityNews on Helsinki - PDF
CTUR Project
Comments on URBACT Summer University on the web
First published on: Well designed and Built blog
I have been involved in Urbact Networks between 2005 and 2007 with the Hous-es project (about Regeneration of large housing estates in old and new member States) and since the beginning of 2011 in the Links project (about Future Proof Historical City Centers). My point of view is not the one of an external evaluator, but that of an independent researcher on urban policies and projects actively involved in the Programme itself. Attending the first URBACT Local Support Group Summer University that took place in Krakow in September 29th to 31st was an opportunity for a renewed reflection about the Program and how it works.
The First ULSG Summer University organised by URBACT II took place in Krakow and brought together more than 300 representatives of networks and Local Support Groups from all over Europe. The program of the event included short key-note speeches, lectures and interactive workshops about Local Support Group management, the so-called Urbact Cafè, allowing people from the same country or language to exchange in their native language and very few spare time to visit Krakow or meet with your Urbact friends. The work was supported by a fine tuned organisational management, extremely kind and competent polish language assistants and even a video team producing daily reports which are posted on the urbact dailymotion website. To watch some of these very nice videos you can click at the bottom of this blog. Wonderful!
This is all true, and there are many other interesting and exciting aspects of this undertaking that made worthwhile the significant effort required (2 and 1/2 days + travel). On the other side the main reason for this post is to focus on some issues that should be targeted in the next future to make a step forward towards URBACT III.
First of all the “Old Members States Supremacy”. I have no statistics about it, but it is evident that most activities at the Summer University were led and managed by representatives of the old member States. It reflects the fact that also most Networks and Experts are from these countries where eventually the largest Urbact knowledge and experience lies. It is clearly a situation that has developed this way in the years and I am sure that there is no discriminatory thinking behind it, but just some more work to be done at programme level in order to include more contributions by the ‘new’ Member States.
The second remark is related to the first one and I would call it the “English Supremacy”. Working, learning and exchanging with ideas means playing with words and this gives and conspicuous advantage to those who speaks in their mother language. Apparently a language is not only a way of expressing, but also a way of thinking and a channel for a specific cultural approach. This might become a problem for a program like URBACT which aims at putting in value the diversity of European cities (and cultures). Needless to say I love English language and culture and I have English for this blog in order to be able to communicate with colleagues at European and global level. Nevertheless we should always be aware of the language issue which becomes evident in occasions like the Summer University in Krakow.
The third and last issue I like to point out is also somehow linked to the previous ones and is about the fragmentation of these kind of learning events where you find yourself hustled from one room to another to listen, learn and experience things at a considerable speed. For smart professionals familiar with those kind of methodologies (and with their jargon) this might have been a refreshing and exciting exercise. But for some other average practitioner like myself that was sometimes frustrating. In other words I was missing some space to reflect and concentrate on the many issues raised. Of course you can download everything from the Urbact website, but this is not the same thing…
Finally there will be a lot of reporting on those intense days, a lot of homework to be done to become a better stakeholder, facilitator, public officer, planner etc. For the moment I just want to conclude this post with some pictures I took in the beautiful host city, from the airport to the University Guest-house in Florianska street and from there to the premises of the Summer University. That was on the day before the University began and we started our way on the path towards the Dragon’s Den!
by Antonio Borghi, Well designed and Built blog
Read more:
- URBACT Local Support Groups Summer University: Participants first! - URBACT website
- URBACT Local Support Groups - URBACT website
- ULSG Summer University Videos - URBACT website
- ULSG Summer University Photos - Picassa website