Newcastle

From rustbelt to creative city: repositioning Newcastle as a city of learning and culture : 

From rustbelt to creative city: repositioning Newcastle as a city of learning and culture Prof. David Charles, Cheryl Conway & Dr Stuart Dawley CURDS, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Key points : 

Key points Principal city in the North East of England Total population - 1.6 million 16.3% in Newcastle City Council area Joint fifth biggest city-region in England Declining industrial region since early 20th century Growing employment currently in public sector and business services Policy experiments since 1930s Strong regional identity within an English context – historically based and rooted in adversity and working class culture Sense of mismatch between identity and external perceptions Low educational achievement, but need to reposition for higher skill, knowledge based economy – low skill equilibrium Learning as a common theme within much policy in the city and region – learning as policy and learning from policy experiments

Slide 4: 

Innovation and the knowledge base

Policy and governance : 

Policy and governance

CRITICAL case studies : 

CRITICAL case studies Cultural learning – Newcastle-Gateshead cultural development Policy learning - SHINE Learning in informal clusters - KIBS Facilitated learning amongst SMEs - RSC Access to learning for the disadvantaged – Learning NE Community based learning – CHAT shop Learning in urban regeneration – Lower Ouseburn Learning sustainability – Carbon Neutral Newcastle

Dimensions of learning: specific themes : 

Dimensions of learning: specific themes Role of key individuals Porosity Learning trajectories Chatter/buzz Facilitated learning Inclusive governance Reflection

Learning in Urban Regeneration: “Lower Ouseburn Valley” : 

Learning in Urban Regeneration: “Lower Ouseburn Valley” Learning Trajectories Participatory, experiential and ‘practice’ driven learning: Formalisation (e.g. funding) Working alongside the professional regeneration community (akin to apprenticeships) & ‘out of hours’ participation of professionals within the community Development of non-accredited/ informal learning and knowledge: “If you go to a university course on planning or regeneration, it would cover all the stuff they have done and learnt through the Ouseburn. They don’t realise it. They have learned a lot” (Regeneration Policy Officer, Research Interview 2004) The grassroots community- led regeneration of the formerly industrial wasteland of Ouseburn Valley has been cited as ‘best practice’ within the UK governments sustainable communities award programme. Since 1988 the regeneration has shifted from a ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’ strategy, including episodes of partnership working with the city council, but remains wedded to the voluntary contributions and interests of the members of the grassroots Ouseburn Trust organisation. Key projects include conversion of former industrial sites for social housing and workspaces, together with an array of cultural projects.

Slide 10: 

Inclusive governance Development of an organisational structure for meaningful engagement and preservation of core principles and shared vision Themed interest related sub-groups (e.g. Heritage; Community; Culture) Learning through formalisation ‘Core’ of Trust linked to ‘broader’ range of community interests and commitment levels New forms of innovative governance links with the city council Internal and External Governance Structures of the Ouseburn Trust

Cultural Learning: “Newcastle-Gateshead” : 

Cultural Learning: “Newcastle-Gateshead” Between 2001 and 2003 Newcastle-Gateshead’s joint bid to be nominated European Capital of Culture for 2008 drew extensive economic, political and public attention to the role of ‘culture’ within the city-region. Although ultimately unsuccessful in winning the nomination, the bidding process provided a ‘goal’ and imaginary “hook” upon which a wide array of public, private and community partners from different disciplinary backgrounds worked together in a constructive manner. In the longer term, however, the Capital of Culture bid represents but one episode within a broader set of high-profile cultural development projects and networks within the city-region. As such the case study draws important connections to a range of projects and strategies, from the Year of the Visual Arts in 1996 to the development of the current Culture 10 strategy. Learning Trajectories Learning between projects: governance, networks of actors, trust and familiarity Learning within the Capital of Culture bid: Competitive bid as a “learning exercise”: ‘hook’ and ‘focus’ for collaboration, especially between non-cultural and cultural actors “Shared vision” which galvanised a sense of ambition for the partners and public within the city (role of political legitimacy and media)

Slide 12: 

Key Individuals “Visionaries” and “Cultural entrepreneurs”: catalysts Continuity of key actors, drawing on successive project experiences (& assoc. networks/relations) and institutional learning Capturing learning beyond the ‘individual’ and ‘project’ …I don’t think the learning and knowledge has been particularly well documented, evaluated and drawn upon formally, that’s partly to do with individuals going and organisations changing Balance: past experience ‘v’ stifling creativity

Policy Learning: SHINE : 

Policy Learning: SHINE Facilitated Learning Region wide scenario building: > 200 stakeholder interviews & ‘strategic conversation workshops’ for stakeholders Neutral places of dissent and discussion Consensus v Conflict Porosity External Consultants from outside the region (the Henley Group): Capacity, Expertise and Credibility. Two-way exchange: Henley’s methods adaptation to local circumstances Inclusive region wide and interdisciplinary stakeholder engagement: not the usual ‘male, stale and pale’ SHINE was a strategic futures exercise undertaken by the regional development agency to inclusively engage a wider stakeholder audience in identifying potential strategies challenges and policy scenarios for the region. The 18 month project involved scenario development exercises, facilitated by external consultants. The project had a small formal working group together with the multi-sector management group. The process was designed to feed into the 2005 Regional Economic Strategy.

Learning in informal clusters: “Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS)” : 

Learning in informal clusters: “Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS)” Chatter/buzz - Formation of strong professional and social ties between Pink Lane firms; - Community identity: expanding firms re-locate close by; - Basement Exchange: old and new Pink Lane firms showcase new ideas ‘with some wine’; - Forth Pub is a key node and ‘tool’ for social networking & learning; - Developing a mailing list for quick exchange of ‘soft’ tech related information. Within the Newcastle city region’s creative industries sector, there exists a youthful and flourishing new media sub-sector. An important catalyst in the recent growth of this sector has been the work of Project North East (PNE) who acquired and converted office space within a historical area of the city centre. Formerly a red light zone, the redeveloped ‘Pink Lane’ area has recently been dubbed ‘Silicon Alley’ due to the growth of small independent companies involved in film, video, multi-media and TV production, design and internet related activities. A key stimulus in the growth of ‘Silicon Alley’ was the inclusion of broad band access within the workshops, the low cost of office space and the ability to draw on business support and advice from PNE.

“Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS)” contd : 

“Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS)” contd Porosity Open to different opinions and different perspectives – ‘friends’ of the business include other agencies and clients who ‘input into the thinking process’; Encouragement of new talent into the region from outside has ‘re-invigorated’ the knowledge pool and lead to a ‘much more outward looking region’; - Open to collaboration - groups of firms collaborate on a project by project basis – combines expertise and transfers knowledge between companies.

Facilitated Learning among SMEs: “Regional Service for Clustering” : 

Facilitated Learning among SMEs: “Regional Service for Clustering” The RSC was a small agency that was developed by North Tyneside Council to help SMEs to collaborate together in micro-clusters for mutual advantage. It emerged in the mid 1990s and began by helping two clusters of SMEs emerging from the marine design and pipeline sectors and up to 2005 had worked with over 30 such groups. There was a strong community of practice within the RSC, but also the agency sought to encourage collaboration and learning among the cluster firms Reflection Use of research projects to reflect on experience of cluster development – desire to codify the process. Benchmarking and evaluation of clusters. Chatter and buzz Strong community of practice within the RSC office – including network of ‘friends’ and regular catching up sessions. Sharing of experiences in open plan office. Varied cultures within clusters – compare Agonautics and Pegasus clusters

Community based learning: “ The CHAT (Churches Acting Together) Shop” : 

The CHAT Shop is based in Arthur’s Hill in the north of the West End of Newcastle. Once a tightly-knit community of Tynesiders who worked in the heavy manufacturing and service industries, development policies and economic instability have greatly fractured the cohesion of the community. Many long term residents have since left the area. These problems prompted representatives from four local churches to come together in 1990 to establish the CHAT Shop which aimed to address the social and health issues of the area, to promote social inclusion and enhance and support cultural development. The CHAT Shop has since evolved from a drop- in and advice facility to the establishment of two independent organisations – The Yours and Mine Community Cafe and the Toy Cafe. Key Individuals Original churchmen who provided ‘essential driving force’ have since moved on – raises issues of succession; New individuals have ‘initiated the moving on’ but this requires energy and commitment beyond ‘day to day’ management; Learning from other voluntary sector and community projects – boundary spanners; Volunteers who have been with the CHAT Shop from the start have established continuity, a sense of shared history and have spearheaded new projects. Community based learning: “ The CHAT (Churches Acting Together) Shop”

Community based learning: “ The CHAT (Churches Acting Together) Shop” contd : 

Community based learning: “ The CHAT (Churches Acting Together) Shop” contd Reflection What next for the CHAT Shop? ‘I don’t want to go down the route of so many other people of wasting a load of money on something that’s not needed and is not going to continue to have any real impact or benefit beyond the funding stream. There’s no point in sitting there doing good works that don’t actually benefit anybody, so we want it to be grounded in decent information and be able to say to people, we really have thought about this, we’re not just trying to find something to give us an existence for another five years, we’ve looked at it, we’ve thought we’ve got an imperative from our faith, what should we do and this is what we are going to do’. Neutral places of dissent and discussion have enabled reflection; ‘ I think the Trustees know each other and trust each other, I think we have quite productive meetings, people aren’t frightened to say what they think, there is robust debate about significant issues’. Away Days – issues were problematised ‘what is already in place’, ‘where do we need to go’, ‘what is the way forward?’

Access to learning for the disadvantaged: “Learning North East” : 

Access to learning for the disadvantaged: “Learning North East” LNE emerged from a pilot project to develop a ‘University for Industry’. The project was led by the University of Sunderland with a wide range of local partners – schools, colleges, public agencies, health service, libraries, BBC, firms, unions etc. The project aimed to connect potential learners with learning opportunities – courses, drop-in sessions, IT-based courses and paper-based tasters. Delivery was done via educational outlets, workplaces, libraries, shopping centres and even a football club. The project had a complex system of partnership mechanisms to design and develop new programmes. A particular feature of the scheme was being demand-led Inclusive governance Steering committee with broad membership includingcommunity organisations, SMEs, churches etc Development teams with representation from different partner groups

Slide 20: 

Facilitated learning The aim of the project was to connect people with learning Building encouragement for learners Connecting learners with opportunities through call centre and database of courses etc Development of a team of learning advisors to reach into SMEs Provision of new content

Learning Sustainability: “CarbonNeutral Newcastle” : 

Learning Sustainability: “CarbonNeutral Newcastle” The CarbonNeutral Newcastle campaign works with organisations and individuals to help them measure, reduce and offset their carbon dioxide emissions to become ‘carbon neutral.’ Activities have also been aimed at educating the city about climate change, raising the campaign profile and brand, stimulating CO2 reduction and encouraging web hits. CarbonNeutral is the point at which the amount of CO2 produced by a manufacturing process; distribution system and / or product use is equal to the amount being removed. It can be removed through forestry sequestration programmes or through the purchase of technology offset. The campaign was established as a not for profit organisation with its finances under the charitable control of the Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear. It has since evolved into a Charitable Trust. Porosity Learning from networks of expertise beyond the region: Future Forests: national company with existing market presence; Eurocities Research Network- EU level exchange of city research and best practice; ZeroCarbonCities - international campaign to foster awareness and dialogue.

CarbonNeutral Newcastle - contd : 

CarbonNeutral Newcastle - contd Reflection Switch to Charitable Trust status (better access to funding); Interim Review – set out the ‘honest failures of the campaign’ against objectives with recommendations for change and taking the campaign forward; Commissioning research to help better understand the problems faced – ‘the environment is a hard concept to sell’; Management team: more pragmatic in balancing tensions between philanthropic ideals with commercial realities.

Conclusions : 

Conclusions Case studies illustrate key elements of informal learning and knowledge systems and processes General Research findings: re-emphasise the socialised and temporal contexts of learning restate how the governance of social networks and relations shapes the learning process ‘informal’ learning and knowledge exchange remains unrecognised and undervalued compared with formalised/accredited learning processes Key Challenge: better identify, capture and cultivate learning. Means raising the profile and awareness of ‘learning’ as a valued process and outcome in strategies, projects and activities across cities. Specific research findings: problems of capturing learning beyond the lifetime of projects and individuals the role of individuals creates issues of succession, support and capacity (especially in voluntary sector) the fertile nature of interdisciplinary learning processes importance of shared visions and identities in cultivating ‘buy in’ and participation if much informal learning is unrecognised, is learning being utilised in enhancing fortunes of city-regions

Intelligent cities should be: : 

Intelligent cities should be: Open to external ideas with an ability to synthesise knowledge from outside and inside. Willing to invest in experimentation and to learn from both success and failure Have an ability to value and build up an inheritance of knowledge culture and institutions without being trapped by the past. Open and inclusive to knowledge and ideas from all parts of the community Respond effectively to crisis and with an ability to generate a sense of urgency and avoid complacency Constantly reflective and building capacity to develop new ideas and initiatives Having and encouraging key individuals both leaders and champions as well as moderators/communicators and boundary spanners. Neutral places of dissent and discussion Learning towards shared visions Empowered to act wisely on the basis of knowledge with social and environmental responsibility.