Fostering 21st Century Learning Cities and Regions – Eight Facilitating Issues

Session outline: Learning Cities and regions will not be created through a small tinkering with existing systems. More imaginative and innovative methods are required. The eight issues highlighted in this session are those that open the doors to a better implementation of learning city and region concepts. They include promoting active citizenship, marketing the value of learning, productive partnerships, breaking down the barriers to learning, affording access, support systems, using technology and networks, joined up learning and the promotion of employability. Each of these is an issue that has to be addressed in a sensitive, productive and innovative way. In the session, assignments and exercises lead the learner to a greater depth of understanding of each issue, tap into personal experience and creativity and require the formulation of local solutions based on case studies from those places that are ahead of the field.

NB: Because this session deals with several issues it is longer than most – each issue may be dealt with separately over a period of a half-hour to an hour depending on the degree of discussion generated. Many of the issues are given a more thorough treatment in previous separate sessions. Where these exist they are mentioned in the text.