#15 - April 27, 2006
Welcome to the 15th edition of the Observatory PASCAL Newsletter – 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.
You have received this e-newsletter because of your expressed interest in tracking the progress of this initiative. If you do not wish to receive any further editions of the Observatory PASCAL newsletter, please follow the instructions at the bottom of the page to be removed from our mailing list.
************************************************************************************* NOTE: The call for papers for the fourth PASCAL International Conference which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, July 13, 2006 is now open – Abstracts are due by May 22, 2006. *************************************************************************************
THANK YOU KATRINA
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Katrina Beard has worked as Content Editor with the Observatory since the beginning and is in a large part responsible for the growing international audience that PASCAL now enjoys, so thank you Katrina. However, even though Katrina has left the full-time position to take on other opportunities, she will continue to provide back-up support to our new Content Editor – Charlotte Scarf.
Dr Leone Wheeler
Head, Learning Community Partnerships
Project Manager for PASCAL International Observatory Website
LETTER FROM THE NEW EDITOR
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I am delighted to be joining the PASCAL Observatory as its new Content Editor and look forward to meeting members of the research alliance and subscriber community when we all come together for the fourth international conference in July. Given the international flavour of PASCAL, face-to-face gatherings such as this provide an important opportunity to discuss, debate, and build on ideas put forward in our hot topics papers and briefing notes. As such they promise to enliven our work and lead to exciting new collaborations.
Having said that, PASCAL welcomes contributions to its online portal and newsletter from the researchers, policy makers, and practitioners that make up its subscriber community. I expect that the hot topic paper by Josef W Konvitz that is featured in this issue of the newsletter will inspire many reflective comments and hope that you will send them through to me for publishing on the website. That way, we can endeavour to re-create and sustain some of the vigour and enthusiasm that characterises our face-to-face discussions, online.
Charlotte Scarf, Content Editor
PASCAL International Observatory
Charlotte.Scarf@rmit.edu.au
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In this issue:
- PASCAL Observatory's Fourth International Conference and Policy Forum
- Chris Duke's Briefing Note to Hot Topics paper by Josef W. Konvitz
- Joseph W. Konvitz's Hot Topics paper, "Cities: Challenges for Growth and Governance"
- New Briefing Note: City of Melbourne, Place Management
- Conferences and events
- New books
- From the PASCAL library
- About the PASCAL Observatory Project
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1. PASCAL Observatory's Fourth International Conference and Policy Forum
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Pascal Observatory's fourth International Conference, "Building Stronger Communities – New Learnings, Better Governance, Future Directions" will be held in Melbourne, Australia on Friday 14 July 2006.
The conference aims to examine the roles played by place management, social capital and learning regions in building stronger communities. It will consider issues concerned with governance and implications for learning and social capital, and how researchers and practitioners can partner to learn, evaluate, extend and deepen good practice.
Researchers from a range of disciplines, practitioners and policy makers are invited to submit papers that contribute to this discussion and further the understandings and development of Stronger Communities in the context of the conference themes and the resources located on the PASCAL website: http://www.obs-pascal.com/
The Call for Papers is now open, with abstracts due by May 22, 2006.
Further details about the conference, including links to the call for papers and downloadable registration form: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=154
POLICY FORUM
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Pascal Observatory's Fourth International Conference will be preceded by a Policy Forum, "Building Stronger Communities – New Learnings, Better Governance, Future Directions", hosted by the Department for Victorian Communities and supported by PASCAL, to be held on Thursday 13 July 2006.
The Forum will showcase successes, challenges and learnings generated by different models and initiatives to strengthen communities through a series of concurrent Roundtables. Each Roundtable will present two case studies comparing and contrasting international and national (Victorian) perspectives. Moderators will form a panel to report their Roundtable's findings in a plenary discussion.
Participation in the Forum is by way of invitation from the Department for Victorian Communities and targeted to policy makers, practitioners, and researchers with expertise and interest in the Forum's themes. Numbers are limited.
Please contact Professor Bruce Wilson on bruce.wilson@rmit.edu.au if you wish to attend.
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2. Chris Duke's Briefing Note to new Hot Topics paper by Josef W. Konvitz
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"PASCAL's second Hot Topic for 2006 is written in a personal capacity by the Head of the Regulatory Policy Division of the OECD in Paris. Josef Konvitz tackles the distinctly hot subject Cities: Challenges for Growth and Governance, in an authoritative and thought-provoking way."
"Josef Konvitz's study is of interest to scholars of urban development and planning as well as to those responsible for making cities healthy, in a balanced sense, not merely habitable. The Topic accords with the Observatory's wish to enable dialogue to mutual benefit between planners and scholars. The study accords much importance to space, echoing place management, an initially Australian term that features in Pascal's acronym title. The City of Melbourne, where Konvitz led an OECD review almost four years ago, now has professional 'place managers' for each of several areas within its central city arena."
Read the Briefing Note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=157
ABOUT CHRIS DUKE
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Professor Chris Duke is CEO of the Pascal International Observatory and Deputy Chair of the Council of the Tavistock Institute in London. He was part-time Director (Higher Education) for NIACE in the UK, and is part-time Professor at RMIT University Melbourne, where he was Director, Community and Regional Partnerships after being Professor of Lifelong Learning at the University of Auckland. He is an Honorary Professor of Lifelong Learning at the Universities of Leicester and Stirling in the UK. He has worked extensively from the seventies with the OECD and other international organisations mainly on education in relation to development, recurrent education and lifelong learning, also equity and poverty reduction issues, and sustainable development.
FURTHER READING
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OECD Territorial Review, The Metropolitan Region of Melbourne, Australia (2003): http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?lang=EN&sf1=identifiers&st1=042003071e1
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3. Josef W. Konvitz's Hot Topics paper, "Cities: Challenges for Growth and Governance"
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"To manage space better is an imperative, not an option . We are however ill prepared to cope with the current phase of urban development. What do we know about the spatial aspects of urban development that are relevant to policy makers? - very little indeed. Space in cities changes at 1-2 percent per year, but cumulatively, say over ten or twenty years, that is a lot. Decisions taken now will have an impact extending over decades, perhaps centuries."
"The lack of knowledge which is conspicuous in matters relating to urban space is symptomatic of a divorce between academic and professional research on urban issues on the one hand, and what policy-makers need and want to know on the other. There are many reasons for this state of affairs, including the sheer cost and complexity of urban research, different time scales, and different terms of reference used by researchers and policymakers. None of these factors is easily remedied.
There is no good label for applied urban studies, a subject which has been balkanised among professional and academic disciplines. Peter Drucker and Buckminster Fuller wrote of spatial sociology , but that term is not likely to capture the imagination. What do we want to know in 4 to 6 years for which a major research programme could be launched now? Even if agreement could be reached to support such an agenda, cities will not stand still while major research is undertaken. Policy-makers will have to act now according to information and hypotheses which are far from robust according to the standards of the academy."
Read the Hot Topics paper: http://www.obs-pascal.com/resources/hot_topic_josef_konvitz_may_2006_copy2.pdf
ABOUT JOSEPH W. KONVITZ
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Josef Konvitz is Head of Division, Regulatory Policy, in the Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development at the Paris-based OECD. In this capacity, he has had responsibility for country reviews of Russia, France, Switzerland and Sweden, and for co-operation between OECD and APEC on regulatory reform. Previous to this appointment in 2003, he directed OECD reviews of Metropolitan Melbourne and Metropolitan Athens, as well as six Urban Renaissance Reviews (Belfast, Krakow, Canberra, Glasgow, Berlin and Kitakyushu). His contributions to urban policy in the OECD include a study on urban indicators, the Ecological City project, and a major report on Distressed Urban Areas.
FURTHER READING
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Peter F. Drucker – Austrian economist, journalist and business critic, considered to be the founding father of 'management' as a discipline: http://www.peter-drucker.com/
Buckminster Fuller – American visionary, designer, architect, engineer and inventor: http://www.bfi.org/
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4. New Briefing Note: Anne Malloch discusses the value of place management and its applications at the local government level.
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"Place Management has long been discussed at the City of Melbourne as a concept with the capacity to encompass planning, issues management, commitment to continuing community consultation, and the coordination of issues for identified localities.
Broad reaching research was conducted and discussions held to explore the value of place management – particularly in its applications at local government level.
The agreed and overarching value of place management is as a management tool for responding to a range of public policy issues including integrated planning, governance, citizen participation, coordination and delivery of services, infrastructure and maintenance.
In practical terms place management provides the framework for council to engage in continued relationships with community members, stakeholders and partners to achieve mutually agreed aims."
Read the Briefing Note: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=159
ABOUT ANNE MALLOCH
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Anne Malloch is Manager of the City of Melbourne's Place Management Program.
FURTHER READING
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Place Management: http://www.obs-pascal.com/docs.php?doc=125
City of Melbourne: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au
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5. Conferences and events
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JUNE
* Assist Social Capital Conference: Social Capital What Works?
June 9, 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland
Guest Speaker: Dr Thomas Sander, Executive Director, Saguaro Seminar
This event is a unique opportunity to meet some of the most influential minds in the field of social capital and look at putting the concept into practice. Topics of interest include: social capital and education, social capital and culture, social capital and civic engagement.
Website: http://www.social-capital.net/
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* Rethinking Work and Learning: Research Findings and Policy Challenges
June 4-5, 2006 in Toronto, Canada
Preliminary Program Highlights:
- Teachers' Informal/Formal Learning
- Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition
- Learning, Immigration & Social Integration
- Technological Change & Low Skill Workers
- Adult Learning for Older & Retired Workers
- Challenges in Researching Learning with Unions, Community Groups, & Universities
- Correcting Inequality in Adult Education Participation
- Policy, Programs, & Equality-Seeking Groups
Website: http://www.onestep.on.ca/conference/
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* International Cities, Town Centres and Communities Society Annual Conference
June 6-9 in New South Wales, Australia
The aims of the ICTC is to enhance the quality of life of inhabitants of cities, towns and communities and make them as socially and economically sustainable as possible by bringing together visionaries to discuss the challenges of replacing sprawl with "compact, more socially acceptable" environments. This year's conference boasts a wide variety of tracks, ranging from visual merchandising to multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Website: http://www.ictcsociety.org/conf2006/index.htm
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* Changing Foresight Practices in Regional Development - Global Pressures and Regional Possibilities
June 7-9 in Turku, Finland
The future of regions is dependent on proactive interaction between companies, universities and public actors. The aim of this conference is to discuss and assess the future of regions from a foresight and future studies point of view. The key questions are: How can regional actors cope in a global economy? What are the new ways to study and explore the future of regions? How can regional cooperation and networking be enhanced? What are the key strategies for achieving prosperous regional futures? Does creativity strengthen regions? How can foresight theory strengthen regional development in practice? How can companies shape regional strategies in a global economy?
Website: http://www.tukkk.fi/tutu/conference2006/
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* Lifelong Learning Conference
June 13-16 in Queensland, Australia
The fourth International Lifelong Learning Conference aims to identify and bring together the various partners involved with lifelong learning - educators from all sectors, industry representatives, policy makers and lifelong learners themselves. This year's theme is "Partners, Pathways and Pedagogies" and delegates are encouraged to engage with the multiple ways in which lifelong learning is understood and facilitated by means of collaborative partnerships, effective pathways and successful pedagogies.
Website: http://lifelonglearning.cqu.edu.au/2006/
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* The Social Capital Foundation International Seminar - The Development of Social Fragility: A Society at Risk?
June 16-18, 2006 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
This event is one in a line of seminars dedicated to contemporary societal developments likely to increase social fragility and harm social cohesiveness. Three major areas will be particularly accented: - economic instability and precariousness, - ethnic and cultural contradictions, - interpersonal and mental health problems. The objective is to shed light on the possibly destructive effects of these developments, to discern the interactions between these three fields, and to draft innovative social policy responses.
Website: http://www.socialcapital-foundation.org/conferences/synopsis.htm
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* Communities in Control Conference - The Community Conference: Challenging the Power of One
June 19-20, 2006 in Victoria, Australia
This conference provides an annual opportunity for communities from around Australia to come together with government, public health and health promotion and business, to hear views from various high profile speakers about the importance of strong communities to health, wellbeing and social and economic development. This year's conference is tackling individualism and its impacts on community. Bryce Courtney will be speaking about his strong belief in the power of the individual to achieve personal goals and well as systemic change.
Website: http://www.ourcommunity.com.au
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* World Urban Forum III
June 19-23 in Vancouver, Canada
"The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor's access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development."
Website: http://www.unhabitat.org/wuf/2006/default.asp
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JULY
* Third AUCEA National Conference - Embedding University Community Engagement: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
July 12-14 in Perth, Australia
This Conference aims to showcase research, both theoretical and best practice approaches, that embed university community engagement in changing academic culture. This is with a view to communicating with decision makers the value of community engagement and strengthening the support network between universities for maintaining partnerships that provide learning opportunities nationally. The Conference Program will include international and national Keynote addresses, refereed papers and non-refereed presentations, workshops and panel discussions, aimed to create positive and ongoing dialogue.
Website: http://www.aucea.net.au/cgi-bin/articles/display.pl/a:286/National_Conference_2006.html
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* XVA ISA World Congress on Sociology - The Quality of Socialising Existence in a Globalising World
July 23-29 in Durban, South Africa
Spanish Language Session on:
Capital social y redes sociales: El "pegamento" del desarrollo social.
[Eng.] Social capital and social networks: The "glue" of social development and welfare
Website: http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/congress2006/rc/rc51_durban.htm
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PASCAL listing of conferences and events for 2006: http://www.obs-pascal.com/events.php
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6. Book notices
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From The Social Capital Gateway: new books on trust and social capital http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-news.htm
* Chris Duke, Mike Osborne and Bruce Wilson (2005) Rebalancing the Social and Economic, Learning, Partnership and Place, Leicester: NIACE.
Co-authored by the CEO and Co-Directors of PASCAL, this book examines the challenges facing those who make and implement social policy at a time when free-trade economics reign supreme. It draws on linked ideas of social capital and the management of place, and presents international perspectives from a diverse range of countries, to question the domination of the economic and call for a new balance in making policy and measuring what is achieved.
http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/R/Rebalancing.asp
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* Policy Research Initiative (2005) Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool, Ottawa: Pricy Council of the Government of Canada.
The PRI has recently released the final publications from its social capital project. What is social capital? Who benefits – and who does not? Is there a role for government? How can we measure it? Examining the potential of the concept of social capital to inform policy development and evaluation, the publications offer a clear framework for the analysis of the concept, identify policy and program areas where social capital makes a difference, and offer a strategic set of recommendations for testing new approaches, improved measurement, and policy action.
http://policyresearch.gc.ca/page.asp?pagenm=rp_sc_final2
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* Brenda O'Neill and Elisabeth Gidengil (2006) Gender and Social Capital, New York: Routledge.
Since the publication of Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, there has been much scholarly literature devoted to the concept of social capital. However, only a small portion of that literature is devoted to its relationship with gender. In Gender and Social Capital, leading scholars-including Pippa Norris, Ron Inglehart, and Theda Skocpol-provide an in-depth analysis of two fundamental and hitherto neglected questions: What can gender tell us about social capital? And what can social capital tell us about women and politics? Gender and Social Capital is essential reading for anyone interested in the relationship between gender and civic engagement.
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7. From the PASCAL library
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For more research, policy papers and articles visit the PASCAL Library: http://www.obs-pascal.com/library.php
* Michael Cuthill (2006) Community Wellbeing: the Ultimate Goal of Democratic Governance, Brisbane Institute
New buzz words have emerged around notions of community 'capital' which call for greater emphasis on wellbeing - and a greater sharing of power. This short paper explores some of the philosophies, practices and projects behind the trend and looks at the role local governments might play in building human and social capital.
http://www.brisinst.org.au/resources/brisbane_institute_wellbeing.html
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* Vancouver Working Group (2005) The Learning City, Vancouver Working Group Discussion Papers for the World Urban Forum
This paper is part of Turning Ideas into Action, a themed series created in preparation for the 2006 World Urban Forum. This paper looks at sustainability as a dynamic, continuous process of sharing and exchanging knowledge and experiences, and of learning through action. It contributes to this learning process by reviewing key trends and challenges that confront those responsible for planning cities in Canada and overseas.
http://www.wd.gc.ca/ced/wuf/learning/default_e.asp
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* Janet Candy (2003) Planning Learning Cities: Addressing Globalisation Locally, 39th ISoCaRP Congress
Around the world, on all continents, hundreds of cities are Learning Cities. These are local communities that have determined to address global social, economic and technological change by facilitating 'learning for all' as a means of building their local community capacity. The focus of this paper is the ways in which professional planners, through their practice and the environment they shape, contribute to building capacity within Learning Cities.
http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/251.pdf
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8. About Observatory PASCAL
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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 about the Observatory PASCAL project http://www.obs-pascal.com/about.php and our project partners and stakeholders: http://www.obs-pascal.com/alliances.php
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If you have any comments regarding this e-newsletter or you would like to submit an item for publication, please contact Charlotte Scarf at: charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au
If you do not wish to receive any further editions of the Observatory PASCAL news, please follow this link to be removed from our mailing list: http://www.obs-pascal.com/subscribe.php?unsub=326&email=charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au