Welcome to the 13th edition of Observatory PASCAL Project News — an e-newsletter about the development of this strategic information tracking and sharing service of international developments in place management, social capital and learning regions within the knowledge economy.

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This is the last issue of the PASCAL newsletter until 2006. The PASCAL Observatory team would like to wish everyone a safe and happy end of 2005, and we look forward to bringing you more research and news in 2006.

In this issue:

1. PASCAL in 2005

HOT TOPICS 2005

OCTOBER 2005
“Rebalancing the Social and Economic: Learning, Partnership and Place”
New from PASCAL, this book examines the challenges facing those who make and implement social policy at a time when free-trade economics reign supreme. Drawing on ideas of social capital and the management of place, it presents international perspectives, to question the domination of the economic and calls for a new balance in making policy and measuring what is achieved. By Chris Duke, Mike Osborne and Bruce Wilson
http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=135

“Exploring Adult Learning and Work in Advanced Capitalist Society”
This paper argues that studies of learning and work in advanced capitalist societies have generally been conceived too narrowly in terms of formal education and paid employment. In order to more fully comprehend current processes of learning and work and their interrelations, informal learning and unpaid work should be considered. By David Livingstone.
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/davidlivingstoneoctober2005.pdf

AUGUST 2005
”Resilient City-Regions - Mission Impossible? Tales from Finland and Beyond about how to Build Self-Renewal Capacity” In this paper, Markku Sotarauta writes about his own and other cities that have attempted self-renewal (from rust belt blight to knowledge society regeneration), in order to ask what it is that gives a city-region the capacity for continuing self-renewal. By Markku Sotarauta
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/markkusotarautaaugust2005.pdf

JUNE 2005
”Learning Cape ' Aspirations: the Idea of a Learning Region and the use of Indicators in a Middle Income Country”
The Western Cape Province in South Africa aspires to being a learning province, called the Learning Cape . The case study locates developments historically, describes competing understandings of the Learning Cape , and analyses two strategies, which are illustrative of attempts to engage seriously with the concept. By Shirley Walters
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/shirleywalters_june2005.pdf

MAY 2005
”Social Capital and Educational Policy: Serious Issues from an Imaginary Conversation with a Minister”
Tom Healy's paper poses the deceptively simple question: if social capital is such a good idea, what can we do to build it? He offers differing takes on the relevance of social capital to public policy and provides an iterative analysis of the relationship between theory and practice. By Tom Healy
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/tomhealy_may2005.pdf

APRIL 2005
”Sustainable Development”
This hot topic paper is something of a special insight into what is perhaps the single most fundamental policy area facing the world in the 21st century. Published with the permission of Sara Parkin, OBE. By Sara Parkin
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/saraparkinapril2005.pdf

JANUARY 2005
”Kent: a Virtual City Region”
This paper tells the unfinished story of growth and regeneration in the county of Kent in south east England and how Kent County Council is responding to the needs of its residents in aiming to create connected and sustainable communities, communities with a heart. By Donna McDonald, Alison St.Clair Baker & Robert Hardy
http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/kent_january2005.pdf

BRIEFING NOTES IN 2005
http://www.obs-pascal.com/briefnotes.php

January 2005 - Kent: a Virtual City Region. The first PASCAL Observatory Hot Topic for 2005, and the fourth since PASCAL started to open for business last year, looks at the work of managing and developing, in participatory and partnership ways, England's largest Local Authority, Kent.

March 2005 - Discussion on learning regions in the Western Cape, South Africa by Shirley Walters.

April 2005 - Briefing note by Kate Sankey from the University of Stirling, on Hot Topics paper -Sustainable Development- written by Sara Parkin, co-founder of Forum for the Future, UK.

May 2005 - John Field's briefing note on Tom Healy's Hot Topic paper "Social Capital and Educational Policy" - John Field writes about Tom Healy's Hot Topic paper, "Social Capital and Educational Policy: Serious Issues from an Imaginary Conversation with a Minister

June 2005 - Briefing Note for Hot Topics paper - 'Learning Cape' Aspirations: the Idea of a Learning Region and the use of Indicators in a Middle Income Country - Shirley Walter's paper challenges the PASCAL user community, who are mostly located in the advanced 'North', to think through how the ideas of the learning community/city/region flow out beyond the OECD club of nations, and what this means for all of us.

July 2005 - Fairer Funding for Adult Learning - NIACE Campaign - As the country's leading advocates of adult learning, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) has launched a 'Fairer Funding for Adult Learning' Campaign. NIACE believes that these reductions are short-sighted for the country and for local communities as well as for individual learners.

July 2005 - Briefing Note for 'Resilient City-Regions — Mission Impossible? Tales from Finland and Beyond about how to Build Self-renewal Capacity' by Markku Sotarauta - Markku Sotarauta writes about about his own city, Tampere, and other cities that have attempted self-renewal (from rust belt blight to knowledge society regeneration), in order to ask what it is that gives a city-region the capacity for continuing self-renewal.

September 2005 - Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement and Social Responsibility (Australian Consortium) - About the Australian Consortium.

October 2005 - Briefing Note on David Livingstone's Exploring Adult Learning and Work in Advanced Capitalist Society - Tom Schuller comments on David Livingstone's October 2005 PASCAL Hot Topic paper on the role of informal learning in paid and unpaid work.

October 2005 - Review: David McNulty's Dreams, Dialogues and Desires: Building a Learning Community in Blackburn with Darwin - Cheryl Lewis-Fitzgerald reviews "Dreams, Dialogues and Desires", David McNulty's account of his work with Blackburn with Darwen Local Education Authority which won international recognition and numerous awards for its work in widening participation in learning and building a thriving learning community.

December 2005 - Evaluating the Hume Global Learning Village Learning Together Strategy 2004/2008 — a Report on Progress to Date - This paper is a report on the progress to date of an evaluation of the Hume Global Learning Village Together Strategy 2004/2008. It discusses how a group of members from the Hume Global Learning Village, under the direction of Vanessa Little, undertook the evaluation process and reflects on the first year.

December 2005 - Towards a Think and Do Tank: a Report on the PASCAL Common Purpose Event in Kent, UK - Representatives from a cross-section of Kent's public, private, voluntary and community sectors gathered together at the Kent Business School on 1 st December 2005 to consider the PASCAL concept. The event, facilitated by Common Purpose director David Priestley, sought to encourage wider participation in PASCAL in the County by bringing together leaders to explore how PASCAL can have a real impact in shaping Kent's future.

2. New briefing notes: Evaluating the Hume Global Learning Village Learning Together Strategy 2004/2008 — a Report on Progress to Date and “Towards a Think and Do Tank: a Report on the PASCAL Common Purpose Event in Kent, UK”

Evaluating the Hume Global Learning Village Learning Together Strategy 2004/2008 — a Report on Progress to Date

"This paper is a report on the progress to date of an evaluation of the Hume Global Learning Village Together Strategy 2004/2008. It discusses how a group of members from the Hume Global Learning Village , under the direction of Vanessa Little, undertook the evaluation process and reflects on the first year. While this information is freely shared with other learning communities, it is by no means a cook-book method for undertaking evaluation."

A full report of the evaluation progress to date was written as part of a 2005 ALA Innovation fund project.

By Dr Leone Wheeler and Vanessa Little

Read the Briefing Note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=136

Further reading:

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Vanessa Little is General Manager, Hume City Council's Learning Community Department.

Dr Leone Wheeler is Manager of RMIT Learning Networks, RMIT University.

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“Towards a Think and Do Tank: a Report on the PASCAL Common Purpose Event in Kent, UK”

“Representatives from a cross-section of Kent's public, private, voluntary and community sectors gathered together at the Kent Business School on 1 st December 2005 to consider the PASCAL concept. The event, facilitated by Common Purpose director David Priestley, sought to encourage wider participation in PASCAL in the County by bringing together leaders to explore how PASCAL can have a real impact in shaping Kent's future.”

Read the briefing note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=137

3. New PASCAL Demonstration Project - Learning in Local and Regional Authorities (LILARA)

Learning in Local and Regional Authorities (LILARA) is a new Grundtvig project funded by the European Commission and co-ordinated at the University of Stirling through the PASCAL Observatory and the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning from 2005 to 2007.

The overall objective of LILARA is to research and disseminate materials relating to the needs for training and learning of management and professionals in Local and Regional Authorities and their institutional stakeholders in order to assist with the development of Lifelong Learning Organisations, Regions and Cities throughout Europe.

Partners will work closely with the local and regional authorities and their stakeholders in their own cities and regions, who will be responsible for adapting materials and tools to suit local cultures and procedures.

Read more about LILARA: http://www.obs-pascal.com/demoproj.php?doc=128

Grundtvig iniative: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/grundtvig/home_en.html

FACTOID: The EC's Grundtvig initiative was named after Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783 — 1872). Frederik Grundtvig was a Danish teacher , writer, poet, philosopher, historian, and priest.. He is one of the most influential people in Danish history, his philosophy giving rise to a new form of non-aggressive nationalism in Denmark in the last half of the 19th century.

4. Book notices

R. Edwards, J. Gallacher & S. Whittaker (Eds.) “Learning Outside the Academy”. London: Routledge, 2006

D. Wildemeersch, V. Stroobants and M. Bron Jr. (eds.) (2005) “Active Citizenship and Multiple Identies in Europe: a Learning Outlook”, PETER LANG GMBH: http://www.peterlang.de/

Leonel Corona, Jérôme Doutriaux, and Sarfraz A. Mian , “Building Knowledge Regions In North America: Emerging Technology Innovation Poles” , Edward Elgar, December 2005

Norman Longworth, Learning Cities, Learning Regions, Learning Communities: “Lifelong Learning and Local Government”, Routledge, 2006

UNESCO, (2005) “Lifelong Learning and Distance Higher Education”: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=43858&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

5. PASCAL International Conference Report

The third international conference to be hosted by the PASCAL Observatory on place management, social capital and learning regions provided an opportunity for all with an interest in policy and programme development to share their knowledge and experiences in policy-making, community-building, regeneration and sustainability projects with others from a wide range of fields at local, regional, national and international level.

The conference aimed to examine the implications for policy and practice of contemporary research in different models of place management, the role of social capital and the development of learning regions, and to raise fresh questions from practice for further research. The Conference was held on Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 October 2005 at the University of Stirling, Scotland.

A printed copy of the Conference proceedings can be obtained for the cost of £20 by emailing Fiona Mayling: fiona.mayling@stir.ac.uk

6. Conferences and events

AUGUST 2006
“Trust, Reciprocity and Social Capital: the 2006 Ratio Colloquium for Young Social Scientists”, Stockholm. The aim of this conference is to bring together research and researchers in different fields dealing with trust, reciprocity and social capital. CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline for proposals Feb 15, 2006.
website: http://www.ratio.se/pages/Normal.aspx?id=334

SEPTEMBER 2006
“Governments & Communities in Partnership: From Theory to Practice”, 25 - 27 September, Melbourne, Australia
Being organised with the support of the OECD, the Governments & Communities conference will bring together key policy makers, community leaders and researchers from around Australia, together with leading experts from the UK, Ireland, Austria, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. The aim of the program is to deepen the academic and policy debate about the impact and value of efforts to 'join-up' different public services and related initiatives to strengthen communities.
A call for abstracts and presentations is now open until April 30th, 2006 . Until this date, we are seeking both academic abstracts and practitioner presentations. We are looking for papers and presentations in the following areas:
- why collaboration matters
- the role of place
- governance models and issues
- health, environment and indigenous collaborations
- funding and financing issues
- democratic accountability
- evaluating the impacts of local partnerships, and
- leadership and skills for collaborative governance.

To submit a papter: http://www.public-policy.unimelb.edu.au/conference06/call.html
website: http://www.public-policy.unimelb.edu.au/conference06/index.html

If you have a conference or event you’d like publicised on PASCAL, please contact Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au

PASCAL listing of conferences and events for 2006: http://www.obs-pascal.com/events.php

7. New in the PASCAL library

Phillip Cooke, (2005), “Learning Regions: a Critique”: http://econ.geog.uu.nl/emaee/1_cooke.pdf

Darebin City Council, Victoria, Australia, “Lifelong Learning Policy”, http://www.darebin.vic.gov.au/Files/Lifelong_Learning_Policy.pdf

Michael Guth, “Innovation, social inclusion and coherent regional development: a new diamond for a socially inclusive innovation policy in regions’ in “European Planning Studies”, Volume 13, no. 2, March 2005, pp. 333 - 349.

Robert Hassink “How to unlock regional economies from path dependency? from learning region to learning cluster.’ “European Planning Studies”, Volume 13, no. 4, June 2005, pp. 521 — 535

IRE Network - Innovating Regions in Europe, http://www.innovating-regions.org/

DRAFT REPORT from the European Parliament on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an integrated action programme in the field of lifelong learning.
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/pr/547/547695/547695en.pdf

“OECD Observer Spotlight. Trust in Government”
An OECD spotlight: a series of articles which examine the relationship between public governance and public trust, and how modern governments are responding to demands for more open and transparent government.
http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/categoryfront.php/id/1269/Spotlight:_Trust_in_government.html

PASCAL Library: http://www.obs-pascal.com/library.php

8 About the PASCAL Observatory

PASCAL is an international research and policy development alliance which aims to develop, communicate and explain new and emerging ideas about place management, social capital and learning regions.

Read more: http://www.obs-pascal.com/alliances.php

A copy of this newsletter is available online at: http://www.obs-pascal.com/newsletters.php

9. How to unsubscribe/subscribe

To subscribe to this newsletter go to the PASCAL home page and enter your e-mail address in the form at the bottom of the page on the right hand side.

To unsubscribe from the newsletter follow the link on the bottom of this email.

Regards,

Katrina Beard
Content Editor, PASCAL International Observatory, RMIT Learning Networks, RMIT University
Katrina.Beard@rmit.edu.au

Dr Leone Wheeler
Manager/Senior Lecturer, RMIT Learning Networks, RMIT University
Leone.Wheeler@rmit.edu.au