Learning Cities: Lessons Learned

In support of the
Vancouver Learning City Initiative
April 6, 2006

Prepared by: Ron Faris, Ph. D.

President, Golden Horizon Ventures
 Table of Contents

Page
1. Executive Summary 2
2. Preface 5
3. Introduction 6
A. Vancouver Learning City Vignettes: 2020 6
B. Why a Learning City? 7
• Why Learning? 7
• Learning Communities and Cities 10
• Why the Emphasis on Place? 13
4. The Global Setting 14
A. The Knowledge-Based Society and Lifelong Learning 15
B. The Triple Bottom Line of Learning and Sustainability 16
5. Learning City Case Studies 18
A. The United Kingdom 19
• Birmingham 19
• Edinburgh 20
• Nottingham 22
B. Finland 23
• Espoo 23
C. Australia 25
• Albury-Wodonga 26
• Hume 28
• Shire of Melton 30
D. Canada 31
• Victoria 31
6. Analysis: Lessons Learned 32
A. An Overview 32
B. Process, Structural, Funding Models 35
• Process 35
• Structure and Funding 36
- Civic Models 36
- Non-Governmental Organization Models 37
C. Emerging Priorities 37
• New Themes 38
- Social and Human Capital Analysis 39
- Environmental Issues 39
- Citizenship 40
D. What is the Difference? – A Summary 40
7. Vancouver: A Choice of Futures 42
Appendices:
1. Appendix #1: A Learning City Matrix 43
2. Appendix #2: Towards a Learning City 44

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1. Executive Summary:

Learning cities are emerging on every continent. They appear to be a response by commu-
nities of place that wish to sustain cherished values, beliefs and the quality of life and envi-
ronment which make their places special, if not unique. This is at a time when interrelated
drivers of change – i.e., globalization, information and communications technologies and the
explosion of knowledge, especially in the sciences and technologies – are creating an ho-
mogenous, materialistic mass culture that threatens the people’s sense of place, history,
community and challenges a sustainable environmental, economic and social future.

These three drivers are key elements of an emerging knowledge-based economy and soci-
ety – the only constant of which is change. Learning – the acquisition of knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values – can only be measured by change whether in new knowledge, skills,
behaviour or attitudes. Paradoxically, change in the form of learning appears to be the best
response to managing the profound socio-economic change that is transforming whole
economies, nations, industries and communities. Learning occurs in every city but the ex-
plicit recognition, valuing and investing in individual and social learning in learning cities is a
critical difference. Learning is the chief means by which cities can become more vibrant,
healthier, safer, more inclusive and more sustainable.

The year 1996 – the European Year of Lifelong Learning – was a watershed in global
thought. That year, both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
released their major reports on lifelong learning; and a growing number of European nations
launched learning city and regional initiatives. Both reports illuminated the importance of
community-based learning and the understanding that learning is embedded in our everyday
community settings – the family, the neighbourhood, the school and the workplace. They
argued that the foundations of lifelong learning – early learning and the literacy – must be
provided to all to enable every person to participate and contribute to their community and
society. Notions of the common good, and a balance between individual rights and citizen
responsibilities, were to be learned and practiced in the increasingly diverse, complex and
dynamic cities where increasing numbers of people are gathering.

What difference does the explicit recognition, celebration and investment of lifelong learning
in the policy and practice of five sectors – civic, economic, educational, public and voluntary
– of a community make? Predictably, the first years of learning city development in most na-
tions appear to have focused on practical issues of learning how to build a process or struc-
tural model relevant to their community and answering specific questions such as: Should
their model be civic government-based or non-government organization based? What
should their communities’ priorities be? How could information technologies be used as a
tool to foster learning in their cities? How could their initiatives become sustainable? How
could the evaluation of the learning city initiatives become a continuous learning process?

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The new millennium has found rapidly increased interest in investigating the differences a
learning city can make. Interest in both the macro, as well as the micro-level changes that
can occur in learning cities has arisen. For example, the United Kingdom government has
supported several seminal guides, reports and initiatives to assess learning community
processes and outcomes. A Guide to Assessing Practice and Progress: Learning Commu-
nities, field-tested in 1998/99 was followed by an analytical survey of learning cities in 2000,
and then by the current learning community test-bed initiative in 28 sites. In Australia, the
launch of the Victorian State Learning Towns Program in 2000 was followed a year later by
a state-wide evaluation. Evaluation tools and reports have also been developed over the
past two years at the local level in Hume city and Mt Evelyn, for instance. Two success de-
terminants of learning cities are emerging, namely the community’s ability to learn to build
and sustain partnerships within and across all community sectors, and to foster participation
of all community members, including the most disadvantaged.

Transformation in learning cities is only possible if the transformative learning of individuals

and groups is systematically fostered. A new paradigm that focuses on suffusing learning
strategies in the policy, planning and programs of all five community sectors increases the
probability of achieving a triple bottom line of sustainable economic, environmental and so-
cial conditions. The degree to which organizations within each sector become learning or-
ganizations – investing in the learning of all their members and strategically leveraging the
organizations’ human and social capital is one measure of the transformative power of a
learning city.

Case studies from different nations reveal both some common outcomes as well as different
areas of emphasis. Pioneering learning city initiatives in the United Kingdom emphasized
two objectives to which all learning cities aspire – economic development and social inclu-
sion. They also began to recognize that the reform of the conventional education systems –
to ensure greater relevance to the social as well as economic roles that citizens play – can
be enhanced by providing a wider context and ambience for needed change. Birmingham,
for instance, has developed exemplary basic literacy initiatives to attain significant improve-
ment in both educational achievement and social inclusion in an increasingly multicultural
environment. Australian learning cities, initially influenced by the United Kingdom models,
emphasized economic and social goals but have increasingly focused on cultural objectives
and learning needs of minorities including aboriginals and recent immigrants. Recognition
of the importance of environmental concerns and use of information technologies has also
evolved in many Australian learning towns.

Recent doctoral research on Australian learning cities has yielded useful insights and find-
ings. These studies have been conducted by practitioners – one is a city planner involved in
learning city planning, another was the community developer of an emerging learning city,
and the third is a manager of a university learning technology initiative that blends commu-
nity informatics and learning community theory and practice – who have reflected upon their
own practice and have drawn upon the lifelong learning concept and international good
practice as basis for analysis.

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 Action research in British Columbia’s rural learning communities has shown significant suc-
cess in building bridges between aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities; increased
community economic development; and effective use of community service-learning projects
to challenge youth and adults to leave a legacy for their communities as they learn the val-
ues and skills of service-leadership. This experience has informed development in Victoria,
Canada’s first learning city, which has initiated a multi-tracked City youth strategy involving
creation of a Youth Council; a citizen apprenticeship model of service-learning; and explora-
tion of strategies to extend learning-based restorative justice in local schools.

Learning occurs in every community but the explicit use of the concept of lifelong learning as
an organizing principle and social/cultural goal that informs the analysis, planning and im-
plementation of sectoral and cross-sectoral learning partnerships, networks and collabora-
tive strategies is the essential and distinguishing feature of a learning community. 1

Based on an assessment of learning cities in other countries, we know that becoming a

learning city:

• provides a coherent, integrated and comprehensive approach to organizing and mobiliz-

ing existing and future lifelong learning resources necessary for individuals and commu-
nities to face the ever-changing challenges of the knowledge-based economy and soci-
ety of the 21st century;
• fosters early learning and the literacy, including learning how to learn, as the foundations
of a lifelong learning strategy;
• makes it easy for all people to learn and to continue learning in a variety of ways;
• places learning at the heart of community capacity building and development;
• celebrates, and inspires enthusiasm for, continuous learning of all;
• commits to a vision and strategy with immediate impacts and long-term consequences;
• enables increased pathways between the formal learning (education) sector and the
non-formal (community, not-for-profit and workplace sectors) through active partnerships
and networks;
• invests in learning that brings lifelong benefits to both individuals and their communities
– i.e., investment in formal education and non-formal learning has been proven to be the
best means of combating poverty, increasing overall health, and eliminating social ex-
clusion; 2
• promotes social inclusion – i.e., those previously marginalized can, through active learn-
ing, end dependency relationships and contribute to their communities as well as enrich
their own lives;
• uses and builds human and social capital, including the cultural values and knowledge
base of aboriginals and recent immigrants;
• uses learning technologies as tools to acquire the full range of learning and literacy for
all, to establish intra- and inter-community networks to share common concerns and best
practices;
• values what exists and uses existing learning resources but seeks to constantly develop
deeper understanding and identify new ways of doing things.

1
Candy, J., 2005, Town Planning for Learning Towns, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Flinders Uni-
versity, Adelaide.
2
Keating, Daniel P. and Clyde Hertzman, 1999, Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations: So-
cial, Biological and Educational Dynamics, The Guildford Press, New York.

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 Vancouver is superbly endowed with the assets necessary for a world-class lifelong learning
city, including: a rich multicultural society; excellent formal and non-formal learning provid-
ers; a vibrant civil society; a strong financial base; and a splendid cultural and artistic com-
munity. Mobilizing the learning resources of all of these sectors in a comprehensive, col-
laborative and cross-sectoral initiative is an achievable goal.

2. Preface:

This background paper, and the associated Learning Cities Annotated Bibliography, aug-
ments a previously published discussion document: Lifelong Learning Strategy for the City
of Vancouver. Taken together, it is hoped that they will foster wide discussion and commit-
ment to a Vancouver Learning City Initiative that will be informed by a growing body of litera-
ture, current research and good practice – both locally and globally.

There has been approximately a decade of learning city development on almost every con-
tinent. However, the most active regions have been those of major OECD nations – particu-
larly the United Kingdom, Australia and countries of Western Europe. Colleagues in the
United Kingdom and Australia who have generously shared their expertise, experience and
insights have influenced my perspective on lessons learned. Martin Yarnit, a pioneer of the
United Kingdom movement, has conducted studies in Europe and the United Kingdom and
visited British Columbia as has Geoff Bateson, then Manager of the Birmingham Core Skills
Partnership, Birmingham; Professor John Martin, Director of LaTrobe University’s Centre for
Sustainable Regional Communities, Bendigo; Dr. Leone Wheeler, Manager of RMIT Univer-
sity’s Learning Networks, Melbourne and learning community researcher/evaluator; Jan
Simmons, CEO, Morrison House of Mt Evelyn Learning Town; and Vanessa Little, General
Manager, Learning Community, Hume City.

Jim Saleeba, Coordinator of Australia’s first learning Cities of Albury-Wodonga, and Dr.
Shanti Wong, CEO, Brinbank/Melton Local Learning and Employment Network, Shire of
Melton, have also shared their learning and reflection about not only their own communities
but also their understanding of other countries during their international study-visits.

There are many similarities between Australia and Canada – economically, geographically,
historically, demographically and culturally. Both are middle powers that have been de-
pendent upon natural resources from their hinterlands and the economic cycles of interna-
tional trade; both have large land masses with sparse rural populations and dominating ur-
ban centres strung along, in one case a coastline and in another an international boundary.
Historically both developed as a result of British colonial imperialism with its racial and reli-
gious beliefs, as well as the gradual evolution to democratic, independent nationhood with
federal political systems. Both nations, since the Second World War, have become increas-
ingly multicultural, especially in their burgeoning urban centres, and both countries are
grappling with a unique aboriginal worldview that challenges that of the dominant society. At
the same time, aboriginal people are making legitimate demands for social, economic and
political justice and inclusion. Hence, many of the insights of Australian practitioners seem
to have a special relevance to our Canadian experience and challenges.

All views in the following text are those of the author – as are any errors or omissions. All
websites were cited were in effect as of April 6, 2006.

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3. Introduction:

A. Vancouver Learning City Vignettes: 2020

It is 8:45 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and Tom and Jenny Lee have just dropped their
two-and-a-half year old daughter off at the childcare/learning centre at Jenny’s office
complex in downtown Vancouver (one of many such downtown centres resulting from
the 13-year Learning City “Quality Early Learning Partnership” strategy). Tom, who
normally goes on to his work as an assistant City Planner, is heading off to an East Van-
couver Neighbourhood House for the initial meeting of a cross-disciplinary learning team
which is working with local youth and seniors to design and build Vancouver’s 67th
Neighbourhood Learning Centre (Vancouver’s 23 neighbourhoods average almost three
such centres – this one is co-sponsored by the branch library, the local community
school and the local inter-faith community). Tom’s contribution is the community ser-
vice-learning part of his individual learning plan that will lead toward his accreditation as
a community mentor and eventually a certified Learning City Planner.

Jenny’s learning plan includes community service-learning coaching of single parent

mothers who are seeking entry-level employment in Jenny’s firm, as well as blended
(face-to-face and distance learning) college courses in management supervision that are
part of her learning pathway. Jenny and Tom, like almost 70% of the Vancouver’s work-
force, are participating in an individual learning plan scheme that was launched 14 years
before when it was estimated by the Vancouver Learning City Initiative that less than
10% of the workforce had individual learning plans.

It has been a busy week in Vancouver. Mayor David Singh, Aldermen Wendy Chow and
Mohammed Lazreq, and Musqeam Band Chief Mary Campbell have just returned from
New York where they accepted the UNESCO award to Vancouver as the world’s most
socially inclusive city. Today, the 2010 Olympic Heritage Foundation reported that its
10-year project grant to the Vancouver Learning Partnership for its “Citizen Apprentice-
ship” program had resulted in over a quarter of a million school students engaging in
community service-learning with civic, school, library, social and health agency and
community partners.

Tomorrow the popular annual Vancouver Learning Festival commences its 14th year with
the introduction of the Vancouver multi-cultural choirs’ “Ode to Learning.” This is a spe-
cial celebration as Stats Canada has just reported that Vancouver’s Learning City Liter-
acy Strategy had reduced the number of citizens with low literacy rates in Vancouver by
60% over the past decade thanks largely to the comprehensive Learning City Literacy
Initiative commenced in 2007 that resulted by 2020 in:

• 100% of all infants and children participating in age appropriate pre-school play and
learning activities;
• over 50% of all recent immigrant families having been involved in a unique fam-
ily/workplace literacy strategy;
• 100% of all grade 6 students being able to demonstrate intermediate computer skills;
• 100% of all students having participated in at least one elementary and one secon-
dary school civic literacy (community service-learning) experience;

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 • 70% of all aboriginal people being able to demonstrate fundamental cultural literacy
(i.e., knowledge of language, dance, song, and elder stories);
• a tripling of public library membership and circulation of print and electronic media
and community access information technology training;
• 100% increase in youth-senior intergenerational learning initiatives (e.g., youth ser-
vice-learners helping seniors write family and community histories and gaining or
maintaining ever-changing information technology skills), and seniors mentoring
youth (e.g., entrepreneurial skills, foreign language skills and foster “Grannies and
Grandpas” programs).

B. Why a Learning City?

The global urbanization process has clear parallels in Canada. Whereas almost 80% of
Canada’s population a century ago was living in rural settings; today 80% of Canadians
live in cities. The growth of cities – spurred chiefly by economic, technological and so-
cial/cultural drivers – has generated profound issues everywhere. In the western world,
many movements have recently arisen to meet specific, as well as general, challenges
to cities. Hence, an array of movements has developed dedicated to such objectives as
“safe cities,” “healthy cities,” “inclusive cities,” “educating cities,” “vibrant cities” and
“creative cities.” In the midst of such a cornucopia of perspectives, a global movement
of “learning cities” has grown. A recent research study estimated that there were almost
300 learning cities and towns distributed around the world in which lifelong learning is
explicitly used as an organizing principle and social/cultural goal to foster safer, health-
ier, more inclusive, better educated and creative cities. 3

• Why Learning?

Learning – the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values – is an innate

human activity that is based on the universal desire of human beings to make sense
and gain meaning of their surroundings. The spur is curiosity – seeking answers to
questions such as what is on the other side of the hill, how does a gadget work – or
how could it work better, and why the world is as it is? Learning is essentially a
complex multi-dimensional social process – most of the learning we acquire is with
and from others. Throughout our lifespan, our learning is embedded in the expand-
ing settings of our life course - from the home, the community, the school to the
workplace and the wider world. Our learning results in changed behaviour or atti-
tudes of both ourselves as individuals and of the groups within which we function.
Learning is often therefore measurable and demonstrable. It is also an historical
process through which successive generations have contributed to the gradual ac-
cumulation and transfer of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values of our species.

3
Candy, J., 2005, Town Planning for Learning Towns, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Flinders Uni-
versity, Adelaide.

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 David Hargreaves argues that there have been “three great revolutions” – human
epochs – in which how people learn has reflected the nature of the dominant socio-
economic system. 4 Specifically there was an:

- agricultural economy, lasting about 12,000 years, in which experiential learning

(learning by doing) enabled sons and daughters to learn from, and work with,
their parents or local craftsmen;
- industrial economy, developed over the past 200 years, in which formal educa-
tional institutions arose that mirrored the emerging industrial factory system;
- an emerging knowledge economy in which people engage in lifelong learning
and use learning technologies as tools that will enable learning anywhere and at
anytime.

The one constant throughout the epochs is that informal or serendipitous learning,
and non-formal or systematic, uncredentialized learning within the family, workplace
or community has always been central to the quality of life of individuals and their
communities.

Formal or credentialized learning arose in the middle ages and has flowered in the
industrial age schools, colleges and universities that have gradually arisen over the
past two centuries. The formal learning sector, encompassing education and training
systems, has dominated public policy discourse and funding for over a century. The
initial distinction between “education” and “training” created a false dichotomy that in
much of the world has led to devaluing “training” and promoting academic “educa-
tion” – even in the midst of growing trades skill shortages. However in a learning
city, learning is seen as the common denominator of education and training systems,
whether in the public or private sectors. Further, all learning – formal, non-formal,
and informal – is recognized, celebrated and invested in as the development of
whole people in whole communities is fostered.

The OECD initially promoted the notion of “recurrent education” that emphasized the
alternation between the worlds of work and education throughout the adult lifespan.
However, over the past 15 years, the OECD has promoted research and develop-
ment of lifelong learning among its 30 member states – the majority of which are the
wealthier industrial nations undergoing rapid urbanization and socio-economic
change. It was a 1992 OECD conference on learning cities in Gothenburg, Sweden
that launched what became the world-wide learning communities movement – and
resulted in OECD learning region projects in Europe following the 1996 European
Year of Lifelong Learning.

4
Hargreaves, D., 2000, “Knowledge Management in the Learning Society,” Forum of OECD Education
Ministers Developing New Tools for Education Policy-Making, 13-14 March, Copenhagen. He argues
that neuroscience and cognitive science will interact with information technologies “not only to accel-
erate the speed of change in knowledge economies but also to open up new possibilities in the provi-
sion of learning services demanded in such societies.”

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 UNESCO has, for over forty years, examined and promoted the concept of lifelong
learning. The organization foresaw the need for continuous learning of individuals
and groups across the lifespan to meet the demands of a changing economy and
society. It also recognized the necessity of reforming the conventional education
systems that front-end loaded educational resources for school children so that sup-
port for lifespan learning into the adult years was equally important. UNESCO also
identified the importance of “life-wide” learning - the expanding settings of learning
we experience as we move from child to adulthood (with its distinctive citizenship,
worker and parenting roles) and the contribution that all five sectors of the commu-
nity (i.e., civic, economic, education, public and voluntary) can make to improved
quality of individual and community life if their policy and practice is suffused by
learning (See Appendix #I: A Learning City Matrix – Examples of How Sectors Con-
tribute to Achieve Shared Objectives).

Learning occurs in every community, but the explicit use of the concept of lifelong
learning as an organizing principle and social/cultural goal that informs the analysis,
planning and implementation of sectoral and cross-sectoral partnerships and collabo-
rative strategies is the essential and distinguishing feature of a learning community. 5

Input Community Interrelated Outcomes

Sectoral Collaborative
Partners Strategies
Civic Expanded Use of Increased Human Capital
Learning Technologies

Economic Community Economic Economic Regeneration

Development

LEARNING Education Service-Learning Civic Engagement

Public Alcohol/Smoke Free Healthy Community

Pre/Post Natal Care

Voluntary Family Literacy Increased Social Capital

Learning Communities: Suffusing Learning into Sectoral Policy and Practice and Mobilizing
Learning Resources in a Knowledge-based Economy and Society.

5
Candy, J., 2005, Town Planning for Learning Towns, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Flinders Uni-
versity, Adelaide.

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 • Learning Communities and Cities:

“The city is dead. Long live the city! Those who have rushed to pronounce the city’s
demise in today’s globalized communications world may have to eat their words. For
cities – and their regions – can offer just the right mix of resources, institutional struc-
tures, modern technology and cosmopolitan values that allow them to serve as incu-
bators and drivers for the knowledge-based societies of the 21st century.”

Kurt Larsen, “Learning Cities: the New Recipe in Regional Development,” OECD
Observer, August 1999.

There is a growing body of research and literature on learning communities and cit-
ies in the emerging knowledge-based economy and society. 6 It is important, how-
ever, to situate the learning community of place (i.e., neighbourhoods, villages,
towns, cities and regions) within the confused and confusing literature on learning
communities. 7 Perhaps, predictably, the web documents tend to focus on “elec-
tronic” or “virtual” communities – a function of self-selection. In the United States, in-
terest in “virtual learning communities” is paralleled by research and development of
“academic learning communities” – classrooms, schools and colleges that intend to
promote a sense of community and shared learning within the educational institution
by such means as team teaching and collaborative learning methodologies. 8

In a recent study of the term “learning communities,” an example of the shifting defi-
nitional sands is contained in an otherwise worthy analytical summary, as follows:
“…as humans lose their capacity to engage in processes of cultural learning, they
lose the ability to build strong and vibrant communities capable of supporting varied
tasks like identity formation, social integration and cultural reproduction. Without an
immediate, diligent and long-standing commitment to improve “learning communi-
ties,” Canada is at risk of continuing to lose what is perhaps its most important social,
cultural and economic asset: the capacity of its citizens to participate fully in learning
together in communities of practice.” 9

6
Faris, R., 2006, Learning Cities: Annotated Bibliography, Vancouver Learning City Working Group,
Vancouver.
7
See; Plumb, D. and R. McGray, 2006, Learning Communities: CCL Review of the State of the Field in
Adult Learning, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, and Kilpatrick, S., Barrett, M. and T. Jones,
2003, Defining Learning Communities, CRLRA Discussion Paper D1/2003, University of Tasmania,
Launceston for discussion of various uses of the term “learning community” Faris, R., 2006, Learning
Cities Annotated Bibliography, Vancouver Learning City Working Group, Vancouver conducted a
Google web search on January 21, 2006 using the term ”learning community” that found of the first
one hundred references, 42% referred to “academic learning communities;” 38% referred to “elec-
tronic or virtual learning communities;” 14% referred to “communities of practice;” and 6% referred to
learning towns or cities – “communities of place.” Subsequent replications of such a search result in
similar findings.
8
An analysis of American definitions is found in the ERIC Digest 1999 document on “Learning Com-
munities” that identifies “five major learning community models in existence” – all institution based. It
makes no reference to OECD, European Commission, United Kingdom or Australian learning com-
munities of place. Eric Clearinghouse on Higher Education, Washington D.C., BBB32577_George
Washington University, Washington D.C.
9
Plumb and McGray, 2006.

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 Greater clarity is possible if we view the generic term “learning communities” as a
nested concept of social/cultural learning with an expanding scale of learning envi-
ronments. The following diagram and table are an attempt to locate “learning com-
munities of place” – learning neighbourhoods, villages, towns, cities and regions – in
a nested Russian egg of social learning.

Ron Faris 2006

Learning Communities: A Nested Concept of Expanding Scale and Cascade of Social Learning
Environments.

The following Table I illustrates the differentiation of social learning groups from
those of smallest scale (learning circles) through to those of largest or global scale
(virtual global learning communities). It also attempts to distil the unique features of
the various types and, when possible, identify leading exponents of each concept.
Finally, several examples of each type are provided but with the recognition that a
wide variety of organizations or models could be cited.

While there are clear definitional boundaries among all types of learning communi-
ties, at least two generalizations applicable to all are possible. First, every type is
subject to “virtualization,” that is the creation and adaptation of every type on the
Internet, regardless of the argument by early exponents that the original face-to-face
learning version provides unique learning processes and outcomes. For instance,
both the “learning circle” and “communities of practice” were initially premised and
promoted as means of gaining the special benefits of face-to-face interaction and
group dynamics. Today, there are a myriad of learning circles and communities of
practice that are conducted electronically. Second, learning in every type of “com-
munity” is recognized as a two-way, interactive social process.

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Table I: Learning Communities: A Nested Concept of Expanding Scale and Cascade of
Social Learning Environments

Type Scale (Smallest to Example(s) Unique Features or

Largest Scale) Characteristics

Virtual Global Largest: World Wide Web *CISCO Academy Solely dependent upon Infor-
Learning Com- Networks of Shared Interest of Learning mation and communications
munities or Purpose * Commonwealth of technologies (ICT) e.g., Elec-
Learning tronic Learning Communities
Learning Civic Entities: *Kent Learning Re- Place-Based Settings
Communities of Neighbourhoods, Villages, gion *Places that explicitly use life-
Place Towns, Cities or Regions *Victoria Learning long learning as an organizing
City principle and social/cultural goal
*Finnish Learning *Political jurisdictions
Villages *Residents define operational
boundaries
* ICT used to network within
and among learning communi-
ties of place
Learning Corporations/Bureaucracies *IKEA Natural Step Private, Social or Public Enter-
Organizations through to Small and Me- Eco-Economic prises that Foster Learning as a
dium-Sized Enterprises Model Strategic Objective
* UK Investors in * Shared Vision
People Scheme * Systems Thinking
* Mental Models
* Personal Mastery
*Team Learning
- Peter Senge, chief exponent
Academic Educational Institutions: *Evergreen College Formal Education Settings
Learning Colleges/Classrooms *Community *Team Teaching
Communities Schools * Interdisciplinary Approaches
*Co-operative Learning
- A. Meiklejohn, chief exponent
Communities of Communities of Interest: *Artists’ Workshop Initially Solely Face-to-Face
Practice Professions, Trades, Avo- *Legal Assistants’ *Often Theme-Based
cations, etc. Network *Members are Practitioners
*Members Learn from One An-
other
- Etienne Wenger, chief expo-
nent
Learning Circles Smallest: Small Groups *Swedish Study Initially Solely Face-to-Face
Engaged in Learning Activi- Circle Movement *Small Group Dynamics
ties of Mutual Interest *Small Group Dis- *Optimum Size: 8-12 Persons
cussions - Kurt Lewin and Myles Horton,
chief exponents

Ron Faris, 2006

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 • Why the Emphasis on Place?

“The world is a sum of its parts and all the parts are local.”

Sheila Fell, quoted in From Place to Place, Common Ground, 1996.

In the midst of an age of the growing use of information and communication tech-
nologies and the creation of the “virtual” dimension of almost every human experi-
ence, the expanding research and literature on “place-based” theory, analysis, plan-
ning and practice may appear paradoxical. Disciplines such as geography, history,
anthropology, social psychology and urban planning are, however, predictable
sources of such perspectives. 10 Similarly, the unique aboriginal worldview, with its
profound respect for the land and the living systems thereon, promotes a concern for
place. 11 These concerns are increasingly reinforced by the findings of the ecological
sciences and the associated environmental or eco-literacy movement.

In more recent years leading economists, often concerned with the development of
creative, sustainable cities or regions have engaged in place-based analysis. 12 Of
particular relevance to those exploring the conceptual framework of learning com-
munities is the growing interest in “place-based pedagogy” or learning. 13

Recently, particularly in Australia, “place management” strategies involving collabo-

ration among different levels of government (federal, state and local or sometimes
state and local) across a cluster of departments – in a whole-of-government ap-
proach – have focussed substantial public resources to successfully address a vari-
ety of issues of special concern in a specific locale or place (neighbourhood, town,
city or region). 14

10
See Bradford, N., 2005, Place-Based Public Policy: Towards a New Urban and Community Agenda
for Canada, Research Report F/51 Family Network, Canadian Policy Research Networks, Ottawa for
an inter-disciplinary, international comparative analysis to inform place-based public policy in Canada.
This report cites the Vancouver Urban Development Agreement, and other western Canadian urban
agreements as emerging place-based models. It should also be noted that there is a body of re-
search in social psychology around the concepts of “propinquity” and “proximity” that analyses the
apparent importance of space and human interaction in human social intercourse.
11
Semken, S., 2005, “Sense of Place and Place-Based Introductory Geoscience Teaching for American
Indian and Alaska Native Undergraduates”, Journal of Geoscience Education (March, 2005). Some
geographers argue that a “sense of place” comes into existence when humans give meaning to a part
of the larger, undifferentiated geographic space – a view akin to a constructivist learning theory.
12
Florida, R. 2002,The Rise of the Creative Class and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community
and Everyday Life, Perseus Books Group, New York; Duke, C., Osborne. A. and B. Wilson, 2005,
Rebalancing the Social and Economic: Learning, Partnership and Place, National Institute of Adult
Continuing Education, Leicester; Wolfe, D., 2000, “Social Capital and Cluster Development in Learn-
ing Regions,” Paper presented to the XVIII World Congress of the International Political Science As-
sociation, August 5, 2000, Quebec City.
13
Gruenewald, D., 2003, “The Best of Both Worlds: Critical Pedagogy of Place,” Educational Re-
searcher, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 3-12. Rae, K. and B. Pearse, 2004, “Value of Place-Based Education in
the Urban Setting”, Presentation at the Conference on Effective Sustainability Education: What
Works? Where Next? Linking Research and Practice, Sydney.
14
Faris, R., 2004, Lifelong Learning, Social Capital and Place Management in Learning Communities
and Regions: a Rubic’s Cube or a Kaleidoscope? Observatory PASCAL: Place Management, Social
Capital and Learning Regions at URL: http://www.obs-pascal.com

- 13 -
4. The Global Setting:

Canada is in the midst of the most rapid social, economic and cultural change in its history.
We find ourselves in a situation where the only constant is change. Our nation, like all oth-
ers, is subject to the forces of change impelled by at least three inter-related drivers:

• market-oriented globalization;
• rapid increase in the use of information and communications technologies;
• an explosion of new knowledge, particularly in the sciences and technologies.

Throughout the world, whole economies, societies, industries and communities are being
restructured as a result of such a condition. Paradoxically, the constant change of the
knowledge-based economy and society appears to best be met by those nations that are
most expert in promoting change in the form of continuous learning for all. 15 Learning – the
acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values – can be measured in terms of demon-
strable knowledge and skills, changed behaviour and attitudes.

A new model of political economy is emerging in the knowledge-based economy that incor-
porates the concepts of human and social capital. 16 Research and analysis by international
bodies such as the OECD and the World Bank are exploring the role and relationship of
both social and human capital – the “intangible assets” of the knowledge-based economy. 17
Research at the University of Tasmania focused on the synergy of the two capitals has con-
cluded that the assumption of the dominant human capital theory that ‘basic literacy skills’
equip individuals for life’s transition is false. Further, it has:

15
Keating, Daniel P. and Clyde Hertzman, 1999, Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations: So-
cial, Biological and Educational Dynamics, The Guildford Press, New York. The importance of
greater equality of socio-economic conditions in enabling greater community capacity to solve prob-
lems in the future economy is emphasized in Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis, 2002, “Social Capi-
tal and Community Governance,” The Economic Journal, Vol. 112 (November), Royal Economic So-
ciety, Oxford. Pp. 419-436. The importance of more equal opportunities for learning, health and so-
cial development in a knowledge-based economy are emphasized in Brown, Philip and Hugh Lauder,
2000, “Human Capital, Social Capital, and Collective Intelligence”, Social Capital: Critical Perspec-
tives, (Eds, S. Baron, J. Field, and T. Schuller), Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 226-42.
16
Simon Szreter of Cambridge believes that social capital theory has the potential impact of Keynesian
thought in the 1930’s and 40’s. He argues that a new literacy based on “equality of communicative
competence” will enable all community members to function more effectively in the local market
economy and be actively involved in participatory democracy. See Szreter, Simon, 1999, ‘New Politi-
cal Economy for New Labour: The Importance of Social Capital’, Political Economy Research Centre
Policy Papers – Paper 15, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, p.8.
17
OECD, 2001, The Wellbeing of Nations: the Role of Human and Social Capital, Centre for Educa-
tional Research and Innovation, Paris. The World Bank Social Capital website focuses on poverty re-
duction and sustainable human, social and economic development:
http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/poverty/scapital/index.htm

- 14 -
 “taken our attention away from the underpinning, and critical importance of, social capital
that facilitates effective learning of any kind, including literacy learning. Part of the signifi-
cance of bringing human and social capital together lies in their joint capacity to enhance
people’s learning and response to change. The networks, shared values and trust (social
capital) acquired through people’s interactions serve to bring the appropriate knowledge to-
gether in the process of shaping and shifting perceptions of self – that is, their identities – in
ways that manage learning and change rather than simply being carried along on its tide.” 18

A. The Knowledge-Based Society and Lifelong Learning:

The importance of lifelong learning in a knowledge-based society is widely acknowl-

edged at international, regional and national policy levels. 19 Both the International Adult
Literacy Survey (IALS) conducted between 1994 and 1999 and the recently released
Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) place literacy within the continuum of life-
long learning. Lifelong learning is not only a normative concept but also an organizing
principle with several dimensions and aspects. Specifically, there is a vertical or life-
span dimension that recognizes the learning process from birth to death, and an horizon-
tal or life-wide dimension that focuses on the different settings of learning, including the
family, the community, the school and the workplace. Viewed together, these dimen-
sions provide a valuable lifelong learning analytical lens.

The lifelong learning model recognizes the importance of not only the systematic, cre-
dentialized learning of the formal education and training system that forms human capital
but also the systematic, non-credentialized learning of the non-formal setting of the fam-
ily, community and workplace, as well as the serendipitous or informal learning that may
occur when one participates as a volunteer in a community association, reads a news-
paper or chats with a neighbour – all of which contribute to building social capital.

18
Falk, Ian, 2001, “Literacy by Design, Not by Default: Social Capital’s Role in Literacy Learning,” Dis-
cussion Paper D7/2001, Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, University of Tas-
mania, Launceston. p. 2. A conceptual model of human-social capital interaction and literacy is dis-
cussed in Falk, Ian, 2001, “Sleight of Hand: Job Myths, Literacy and Social Capital,” Discussion Pa-
per D14/2001, Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, University of Tasmania,
Launceston.
19
OECD. 1996, Lifelong Learning for All, Paris; Delors, Jacques, 1996, Learning: The Treasure Within,
Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, Paris;
G8, Charter – Aims and Ambitions for Lifelong Learning, Cologne; Commission of the European
Communities, 2000, A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, Commission Staff Working Paper, Brus-
sels.

- 15 -
 The lifelong learning concept of both UNESCO and OECD do not view learning as a
value-free activity. Rather, both organizations have emphasized the importance of life-
long learning so that all may contribute to democratic life in their communities and socie-
ties. 20 Specifically, the 1996 OECD report, Lifelong Learning for All, views “…lifelong
learning for all as the guiding principle for policy strategies … to improve the capacity of
individuals, families, workplaces and communities to adapt and renew.” It states that:

“…this view of learning embraces individual and social development of all kinds in all
settings – formally, in schools, at home, at work and in the community. The approach is
system-wide; it focuses on the standard of knowledge and skills needed by all, regard-
less of age. It emphasizes the need to prepare and motivate all children at an early age
for learning over a lifetime and directs efforts to ensure that all adults, employed and un-
employed, who need to retrain or upgrade their skills, are provided with opportunities to
do so. As such, it is geared to serve several objectives: to foster personal development,
including the use of time outside of work (including retirement); to strengthen democratic
values; to cultivate community life; to maintain social cohesion; and to promote innova-
tion, productivity and economic growth.” 21

B. The Triple Bottom Line of Learning and Sustainability:

“A quiet transformation is taking place in communities all over North America and around
the world. Thousands of citizens and their governments are embracing a new way of
thinking and acting about the future. Motivations for involvement vary but they include a
desire to improve the quality of community life, protect the environment and participate in
decisions that affect us; concern about poverty and other social conditions, whether in
faraway countries or in our own towns; longing for a sense of satisfaction that money
cannot buy; and pride in the legacy left for our children. These motivations are all com-
ing together now in a movement toward sustainable communities….” Mark Roseland,
Toward Sustainable Communities (2005).

There is growing awareness that the present rate of consumption of the Earth’s non-
renewable resources cannot continue. Indeed, the sustainability of the human and other
species is at risk. Nowhere is the challenge of sustainability more evident than at the
community level – specifically in the cities and towns that we inhabit.

20
Recent comparative studies reveal that Canada is lagging Sweden in terms of adult literacy. Declin-
ing voter turn-out and participation in political parties are indicators of both lower social capital and
civic literacy measures in Canada. See Milner, Henry, 2002, Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens
Make Democracy Work, Tufts University, London, and Veeman, N., 2004, Adult Learning in Canada
and Sweden: A Comparative Study of Four Sites, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
21
OECD, Lifelong Learning for All, Paris p. 15. The report notes that because of the lack of literacy
skills in many OECD nations “adult basic education must feature centrally in any strategy for realising
lifelong learning for all,” p. 95.

- 16 -
Three inter-related aspects of “sustainability” become apparent when the term is defined
in the context of the ever-changing knowledge-based economy and society. Learning,
which is only discernable and measurable in terms of demonstrable new knowledge and
skills and of changed behaviour or attitudes, is the necessary response of human beings
buffeted by change. Hence, systemic change in the overall socio-economic system
must be reciprocated by learning-based change in human beings – both individually and
communally – if sustainable development is to be achieved.

The concept of sustainability in a learning community or city has a special focus enabled
by the lens of lifelong learning. Continuous learning informs essential change in three
inter-related domains – environmental, economic and social/cultural – the triple bottom
line of sustainability:

• Environmental – Learning to act as if future generations matter is founded on ac-

quiring values and attitudes that foster respect for the land and an understanding of
the interdependence of all living systems – the two profound gifts that aboriginal
people around world have given to an often unheeding, thankless and arrogant
dominant society.

• Economic – The new knowledge-based political economy recognizes the crucial im-
portance of fostering human capital (educational achievement measured chiefly by
formal learning attainment) and social capital (measures of trust, networking, civic
engagement and shared values – chiefly, but by no means entirely, non-formal learn-
ing), and the vibrant synergy thereof. Healthy families and communities produce
both higher measures of social and human capital.

• Social/Cultural – The extent to which we learn: to build partnerships across all five
community sectors; to foster participation of all community members; and to con-
struct networks within and among learning communities increases the probability of
sustainability. The broader the base of this social/cultural infrastructure – and the
community capacity it represents – the greater the probability of sustainability.

- 17 -
 The Triple Bottom Line of Learning and Sustainability:

Economic
- Human & Social
Capital

Lifelong
Learning
- Continuous Acquisition of
Knowledge, Skills, Atti-
tudes & Values

Social/Cultural Environmental
- Extent of Partnerships, Participation, - Respect for the Land &
& Networks Interdependence of Living Systems
Ron Faris 2006

5. Learning City Case Studies:

“Make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning.” Nelson Mandella
quoted by Shirley Walter. 22

There has been over a decade of global experience regarding development of learning
communities of place and learning cities. What becomes readily apparent as one reviews
the research and development of learning cities is that each community of place has a
unique history, geography and socio-economic and cultural context in which the people’s
lives – and therefore their learning and literacy, are embedded. 23 While it is clearly unwise,
if not impossible, to transplant any specific learning city model into another jurisdiction, it is
equally difficult not to learn from the following case studies of learning city development on
three continents – Europe, Australia and North America (Canada).

22
Walter, S., 2005, “South Africa’s Learning Cape Aspirations: the Idea of a Learning Region and the
Use of Indicators in a Middle-Income Country” in Duke, C., Osborne. A. and B. Wilson, 2005, Rebal-
ancing the Social and Economic: Learning, Partnership and Place, National Institute of Adult Continu-
ing Education, Leicester. Pp. 126-42.
23
Duke, C., 2004, Learning Communities, Signposts from International Experience, National Institute of
Adult Continuing Education, Leicester.

- 18 -
 A. The United Kingdom:

“Learning is the key to prosperity and opportunity, both for individuals, families and
communities and for our nation as a whole …. How local communities respond and de-
velop their learning resources will be a key factor in the success of the Learning Age.”
Hon. David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Practice, Pro-
gress and Value – Learning Communities: Assessing The Value They Add (1998).

Following the 1992 Gothenburg OECD Conference on Learning Cities, several British
cities commenced learning city developmental processes. By 1995, the United Kingdom
Learning City Network was created to “promote the use of lifelong learning for urban re-
generation through the exchange of best practices between cities, towns and smaller
communities.” Today, the Network, renamed the Learning Communities Network, is
composed of over 30 learning cities and almost 30 “testbed learning communities.” 24

The following is a brief analysis, in alphabetical order, of three of the United Kingdom
learning cities – two in England and one in Scotland – that reflect the unique develop-
ment and priorities of each.

• Birmingham:

The Setting:

Birmingham is the United Kingdom’s second largest city, with a population of ap-
proximately one million people. It is a diverse and youthful city with over 30% of the
population from ethnic communities and 44% of residents under the age of thirty
compared with an English national average of about 38%.

Demographic trends indicate that by 2020, the majority of the population will be from
ethnic minority communities of Asian, Caribbean and Chinese descent. Little wonder
the issue of social inclusion is high on the Birmingham City Council’s agenda.

Until a generation ago, Birmingham was a gradually decaying industrial and com-
mercial centre of the West Midlands – the old “smokestack” city threatened by the
tsunami of the knowledge-based economy and society. Over half of the unemployed
persons in 2003 had no post-school qualifications; literacy and re-skilling needs of
the population was both a civic and national priority.

24
The UK Learning Communities Network is at http://www.bgfl.org/services/lcn/home.htm and the UK
Department for Education and Skills Lifelong Learning site is: www.lifelonglearning.co.uk. The Test-
bed Learning Communities are at URL: http://www.renewal.net/lc/Default.asp.

- 19 -
 Process, Structure and Funding:

Since the 1996 European Year of Lifelong Learning, the concept of lifelong learning
has been an organizing principle of the City Council and its corporate Lifelong Learn-
ing Strategy, including a Lifelong Learning Plan and a Strategic Lifelong Learning
Partnership. A Lifelong Learning Forum, comprised of partners from the civic, eco-
nomic, education, public and voluntary sectors, led development of the initiative –
with support from the City’s Education Department – through a series of public con-
ferences on the membership, role, structure, mode of operation and progress of the
learning city initiative.

Initial Council support in cash and in-kind has been significantly leveraged through
acquisition of both national program funding for such issues as literacy and
neighbourhood renewal, and European Commission support for programs of social
and economic development.

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Two particularly active initiatives have been the Birmingham Library and Information
Services (BLIS) and the Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership (see URL:
http://www.coreskills.co.uk). BLIS comprises almost 40 community libraries and
three mobile libraries. It operates six formal learning centres (with distance and face-
to-face learning opportunities) and 38 Homework Help Clubs within its community li-
braries. A “learning shop” is co-sponsored at the main library in partnership with the
City Council, a regional advisory and information service, and the Birmingham Life-
long Learning Partnership. 25 The Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership
– an independent legal entity comprised of civic and educational, and private sector
partners – has since 1999 fostered literacy throughout the lifespan. Scaling up liter-
acy program delivery has resulted in:

- a 40 fold increase in a “Books for Babies” initiative led by libraries;

- a 25% increase in parent involvement in school curriculum activities;
- an increase from 30% to 70% of eleven year olds with good skill levels;
- a reduction in the number of adults with poor basic skills by 25% by 2005, with a
2010 target of 50%.

• Edinburgh: http://www.edinburghlearning.com/what.htm

The Setting:

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, has a population of about one-half a million per-
sons. It has experienced strong economic performance – especially in the service
sectors – for several decades, however, several areas of the city have about three
times the City average of unemployment. Hence, it comes as no surprise that the is-
sue of more equitable provision of lifelong learning opportunities is a clear priority.

25
Keaneally, A., 2003, Public Libraries in Learning Communities, State Library of Victoria and Glenelg,
Regional Library, Hamilton, p.18.

- 20 -
Process, Structure, and Funding:

The roots of the Edinburgh Learning City stretch back to early interest in 1994 that
culminated in 1995 with creation of “Edinburgh City of Learning” – a company limited
by guarantee and registered charity. In 1997, this city of half a million created the
Edinburgh Lifelong Learning Partnership (ELLP) as a company limited by guarantee
with charitable status with key civic, economic and educational partners. The ELLP
has established priorities that include:

- providing a coherent framework for the development of lifelong learning strate-

gies;
- creating a learning culture within the city;
- developing collaboration between sectors and organizations;
- improving and increasing access to existing learning opportunities in and out of
the workplace;
- promoting lifelong learning within individual organizations and sectors;
- securing resources for the promotion and development of lifelong learning activi-
ties.

The Partnership’s strategic objectives are:

- reducing poverty and disadvantage;

- enabling people to raise educational achievement;
- developing organizations and their staff;
- developing the economy.

Initial funding was dependent upon the partner’s financial and in-kind contributions.
Additional funding has been gained for specific projects. Initial core funding brought
in about C$300,000 annually and enabled a small unit (Chief Executive, Marketing
Project Manager and Administrative Support Officer) to function, as well as manage
a small amount for seed or match funding of projects. (For example, almost C$ one
million was obtained for a Community Access to Lifelong Learning Strategic Project
from National Lottery funding.)

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Among the first actions taken was development of the partnership’s brand, Edin-
burgh Learning, and its subsequent use by all partners. In order to further communi-
cate the shared objectives and strategies of the partnership, an Intranet for ELLP has
been created and information about ELLP initiatives is carried in partner’s house
publications. The ELLP partners were involved when the City’s Community Educa-
tion Department produced a Community Learning Strategy, and when the Scottish
Parliament required that all local governments develop community learning strate-
gies, ELLP was identified as a successful urban model.

Edinburgh is acclaimed as a ”Library City.” The Edinburgh City Libraries and Infor-
mation Services (ECLIS) is an ELLP member and as such has created a strategy to
provide city residents with equity of access, physical or electronic, within 10 years.

- 21 -
• Nottingham: http://www.gnlp.org.uk

The Setting:

Nottingham, population of about 300,000, is the largest city in England’s East Mid-
lands. A university city, over 25% of the city’s population are under 20 years of age
– about half of whom are post-secondary students. About 15 years ago, a high pro-
portion of jobs were in the manufacturing industries; today, the majority of work is in
the service industries. Yet many workers have low educational qualifications and the
up-skilling of the workforce has been among the city’s priorities.

A Nottingham City for Learning initiative commenced in 1996 when the Chief Execu-
tive of the Nottingham Development Enterprise led creation of a Steering Group
composed of organizations involved in education and training, employers and the
city. The group researched existing learning partnerships, good practice and devel-
oped strategic objectives in a draft consultation paper. A year later, a “City for Learn-
ing” conference was held to launch informed discussion and gain endorsement of the
initiative and identify key themes. Three key priorities – literacy, marketing and in-
formation and guidance – are achieved through related working groups. Strategic
objectives include:

- increasing the number of employers committed to re-skilling;

- engaging more of the disadvantaged;
- raising aspirations/developing a learning culture;
- raising standards of educational attainment;
- improving transitions from school to work;
- leveraging additional funds.

Two years after initiation, the project expanded to cover the Greater Nottingham re-
gion (population 600,000).

Process, Structure and Funding:

Start-up funding and office space was secured from the regional office of a national
training agency and three executive staff members – a full-time Project Manager and
an Administrator, and a half-time Project Leader provide executive support. In the
first two years of operation, European Union funds were gained for a parenting initia-
tive (C$ 300,000) and a Lifelong Learning Strategy (C$10 million). Substantial finan-
cial and in-kind resources have been provided by a wide range of local partners.

The initial organizational structure was unique. A Board of Directors acted as a deci-
sion-making group to:

- manage the strategic implications of generic/community-wide issues affecting

learning;
- determine, monitor and evaluate the conversion of the strategic direction into ac-
tion by the Executive and a Partnership Forum.

- 22 -
 The Forum served as an informal and inclusive partnership composed of individuals
and organizations from all sectors of the community. It holds three meetings a year
in order to:

- encourage recommendations and contributions on the future of the partnership;

- promote broad debate around issues impacting learning and discussion between
different sectors;
- offer stimulating insights from local and national figures;
- explore new routes to success.

The forum was composed of four groups – three functional and one specialist. Each
of the groups had a lead organization responsible for coordinating the way it delivers
its business plan priority activities. The three groups, composed of volunteers from
the forum, were as follows:

- project groups initially focusing on three partnership priorities: literacy guidance

and information and marketing;
- working groups initially focusing on development of the Adult Learner’s Week;
- existing groups established prior to the partnership but forum partners linked to
the business plan around issues such as widening participation, labour market
strategy, post-16 tracking and parenting.

The specialist group provided information to inform decisions of the Board of Direc-
tors, Functional Groups and the Executive.

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Planning and carrying out the first of many annual Adult Learners Week celebrations
was among the first partnership projects. This became a central marketing and
awareness tool that many United Kingdom, and subsequently Australian, learning cit-
ies have engaged in.

Negotiations between unions and management in several industrial plants resulted in

workplace literacy and English Language Training initiatives, and the partnership ne-
gotiated substantial New Deal Unemployment Strategy programs for 18 to 24 year
olds.

B. Finland; Espoo: http://english.espoo.fi/

“Lifelong learning is a principle that operates on a number of levels. In addition to

the individual person, it also covers the communities in which people live and work
and the social parameters which shape their opportunities for action. It guides the
educational career of individuals, the activities of communities and the policies em-
ployed to promote learning in such a way as to allow the realization throughout soci-
ety of a broadly based and continuous process of learning.” Joy of Learning, Na-
tional Lifelong Learning Strategy, Finland, 1997.

- 23 -
 Finland, like all Nordic countries, has a long, strong tradition of education and learn-
ing. Like the other Nordic nations, it has actively responded to the challenges of a
knowledge-based economy. For example, the world famous Finnish electronics
manufacturer Nokia has, for over a decade, provided jobs and national revenues to
such an extent that without its contributions the nation would have had a growing an-
nual deficit rather than continued prosperity.

The Setting:

Espoo, a city of about one quarter million people, is Finland’s second largest city and
lies on the outskirts of the nation’s capital of Helsinki. Home of Nokia, it is a centre of
high technology. During the 1996 European Year of Lifelong Learning, Espoo
hosted an international conference on “The Joy of Learning” – a theme that became
the title of the Finnish National Lifelong Learning Strategy. Inspired by the event, the
city of Espoo reviewed its own learning activities and assessed lifelong learning as a
tool for community development. In 1997, Espoo joined several European initiatives
for lifelong learning and learning cities and is a member of several international com-
parative studies in these fields. Espoo is also a member of the Finnish Learning City
Network comprised of the nation’s 14 largest cities.

Process, Structure and Funding:

The Learning City project is led by a Project Manager of an Executive Team. A

Steering Group, comprised of representatives from all community sectors, is co-
chaired by the Deputy City Manager and the Deputy Mayor of Education and Culture.
In addition, ad hoc consulting groups and work teams are formed from experts in the
fields of education and city administration. An Advisory Committee of representa-
tives from companies and learning providers offered advice at the beginning of the
developmental process.

Core funding is provided by the City and additional funding and in-kind support is
gained from local partners and national and European Union (EU) agencies (in 2002,
over 20 EU education projects were undertaken in Espoo).

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Many steps have been taken to implement the Espoo Learning City agenda, includ-
ing:

- promoting learning organization approaches in the City administration through to

library, education, recreation and daycare providers throughout the city;
- creating both a Youth Council 26 and a Council for the Elderly, which advise on
civic policy and practice related to their groups;
- developing a Learning City website linked to all partners;

26
The Espoo City Youth Council is an elected body of 30 members aged 13 to 18 years of age. The
General Assembly of the Youth Council meets every three weeks and provides opportunities for
youth to influence civic policies related to their concerns. City officials mentor youth on specific is-
sues and student teams initiate a variety of youth projects.

- 24 -
 - creating a learning organizational approach for a taxi company serving disabled
people;
- creating an integrated (multidisciplinary) outdoor environmental education pro-
gram;
- creating learning leadership training programs for civic executives and head
teachers;
- holding Netlibris international literature circle connecting school students in virtual
discussion groups using the Internet and occasionally videoconferencing;
- initiating the Osterinet project that has developed a virtual learning cluster or
network of educational, civic and private providers and users that, for instance,
produce and broker a high school-university net media course or address a local
community problem that educational institutions can assist in solving.

C. Australia:

“A Learning City is a ‘way of life,’ it is one where industry, education, business and
the community come together to encourage, recognise and celebrate lifelong learn-
ing for all. It is a city that integrates economic, social and environmental develop-
ment.” “What is a Learning City?,” Ballarat: A Learning City.
http://www.ballaratlearningcity.com.au

Australia, and particularly Victoria State, is the home of many of the most innovative
learning cities in the world. Many of the Australian learning communities – including
the first of the Australian learning cities, Albury-Wodonga, on the Victoria-New South
Wales border that was launched in 1998 – have drawn inspiration chiefly from British
learning city initiatives. Subsequent visits by a number of British learning city experts
and study-visits by Australian practitioners to the United Kingdom have also influ-
enced the Australian perspectives.

By the year 2000, the Victoria State government had launched a “learning towns” ini-
tiative that encompassed rural villages through to major urban centres across the
State. Visits to British Columbia’s learning communities by Australian experts (rang-
ing from a university open learning manager to a regional librarian; a “Learning
Town” Neighbourhood House Director and a Learning City Manager; and a Director
of a University Centre for Regional Communities Development) and two reciprocal
visits by this author to Victorian Learning Towns have ensured cross-fertilization of
Australian-British Columbia thought and practice.

- 25 -
 Since the focus of this paper is on learning cities, only passing mention will be made
of the remarkable initiatives in rural Victoria State. For example, The Learning Shire
of Yarra Ranges, home of the Mt. Evelyn Learning Town and over 40 other commu-
nities, is an innovative leader in the development of learning communities. 27

• Albury-Wodonga: http://www.learningcityalburywodonga.com

The Setting:

These pioneering learning cities were initially inspired by a small group of civic
and community leaders led by a local adult educator, who has also sparked crea-
tion of the Australian Learning Communities Network. The City of Wodonga
(population 38,000), on the Victorian side of the border declared itself a learning
city in 1998 and, in 1999, its sister city in New South Wales, Albury (population
43,000), proclaimed itself a learning city.

Process, Structure and Funding:

Initial funding and in-kind support came from the local cities. Some financial aid
has come from the Victoria State government. A Learning City Consultative
Council composed of 17 members from civic, economic, educational and com-
munity sectors guide the initiative. Five groups report to the council including:

- a Festival of Learning Organizing Group;

- a Way We Live Ecological Group;
- a Regional Futures Steering Group;
- a Learning City Alliance committed to advancing Peter Senge’s Learning Or-
ganization Model;
- a Sponsorship Group composed of representatives from many sectors.

Two Coordinators, one for the Learning City and the other for the One-Stop In-
formation Centre, Learning Connections, and several support staff serve the
council and project initiatives.

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Perhaps the single most successful learning event in the twin cities is the annual
two-week Festival of Learning which celebrates the wide range of learning activi-
ties available in the area. For example, the festival in mid-August 2005 (Austra-
lian winter) commenced with a launch that featured performances by:

27
Information on the Shire of Yarra Ranges Learning Communities Policy, Strategy, Structure and De-
velopment Toolkit is at: http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/page/Page.asp?Page_ID=231&h=1. The
Mt. Evelyn Improvement Committee (METIC) website is: http://www.metic.org.au. The Victoria State
website for Learning Towns is at: http://www.acfe.vic.gov.au/comltown.htm. It identifies some nine
key objectives and notes that Learning Towns: foster social and economic outcomes; improve educa-
tional and training delivery; engage in projects for environmental, community leadership, capacity
building and multicultural purposes; and promote use of learning technologies. The towns have
formed a State-wide Victorian Learning Towns Network.

- 26 -
- Wodonga High School Band; Wodonga Primary School Choir; and the local
Flying Fruit Fly Circus.

Festival of Learning Awards were bestowed, including the Learning Champions

Awards that “recognize those who have made it against the odds after having
overcome substantial barriers such as a disadvantaged background, literacy
problems and age or cultural reasons.” Learning Innovators Awards and Busi-
ness Innovators Awards were also presented.

During the two week period a wide range of activities occurred including:

- unveiling of the local wetlands interpretive trail signage sparked by the local
Rotary Club;
- hosting a “Breakfast to Celebrate Men and Fathers” featuring a presentation
by a Hall of Fame football coach;
- hosting a Farmers’ Market conference;
- hosting a local public broadcaster (ABC) radio series on aspects of learning;
- hosting a presentation on learning community developments in British Co-
lumbia;
- hosting family history and local author workshops in the local library;
- hosting open houses by the local university and college campuses;
- offering free bus tours of historical sites, a local industry and civic urban de-
velopment sites;
- staging a community centre’s “Adult Learners Day.”

Street banners proudly flutter to identify the city as a learning city, and both a
Learning Connections Office and a project website provide information on learn-
ing opportunities on an ongoing basis.

For the past three years, The Way We Live Partnership Project with local plan-
ners, architects and ecologists has:

- developed an ecologically sustainable demonstration house;

- facilitated discussion of commercial innovative design and affordable housing
by visiting planners/designers;
- developed programs for the Festival of Learning.

- 27 -
• Hume: http://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_ID=182&h=-1

The Setting:

Hume (population 150,000) is a city rich in cultural and ethnic diversity with over
130 ethnic groups speaking over 50 different languages. A suburb of Melbourne,
it has a relatively young population (31% under 18 years compared to 23% for
the Melbourne area). English is the most common language spoken at home
(60% compared to 69% for the Melbourne region). Christian denominations are
the most common in Hume with 38% Roman Catholics, 12% Islam and 10% An-
glican (across Melbourne it is 29%, 2% and 13% respectively). The urban core
of Hume, Broadmeadows, ranks amongst the third lowest in socio-economic in-
dicators in Australia and has historically been viewed as a “deprived area” while
the suburban/semi-rural component is composed chiefly of middle-class com-
muters.

Process, Structure and Funding:

In 2003, the Hume City Council created the Hume Global Learning Village as an
innovative partnership that links learning providers across the city, including five
libraries and the mobile library, local schools, seven neighbourhood learning cen-
tres (one donated by the Visy Cares Recycling Corporation), six neighbourhood
houses, the Kangan Batman TAFE (college), local businesses and Victoria Uni-
versity. All of these facilities and sponsors, as well as some other 300 associa-
tions and individuals, are members of the Learning Village – the hub of which is a
purpose-built community centre/library, the Hume Global Learning Centre.

The Hume City Council supports and facilitates the Global Learning Village and
village members take on and resource projects identified in the village’s strategy
Learning Together (2004-2008). The strategy outlines more than 50 strategies to
address learning issues related to eight themes, including:

- inspiring lifelong learning;

- starting out: starting school;
- moving on: school to further education and employment;
- learning in community settings;
- language, literacy and numeracy skills;
- information technology uptake and virtual communities;
- information about learning opportunities;
- fostering the Village Network.

In order to drive these themes, a well-resourced staff is led by a General Man-

ager who reports directly to the senior city executive.

A Global Learning Village Forum of all village members is served by a Learning

Village Committee, composed of representatives from key providers (such as the
local schools, colleges, universities, learning centres and neighbourhood houses)
that is presently chaired by a local high school principal. Overall, policy advice is
given by a blue-ribbon Advisory Board presently chaired by an esteemed former
State Premier.

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 Some Exemplary Initiatives:

A Hume Festival of Learning, organized by the Global Village in 2005, celebrated

both non-formal and formal learning and social inclusion in Hume by including:

- a free community Turkish lunch sponsored by the Australian Turkish Com-

munity Association;
- a number of free Taekwondo and Tai Chi classes;
- a number of free tours of the local Ford Motors Plant;
- a number of introductory workshops and open houses for prospective college
and university students sponsored by local post-secondary institutions;
- a “Parents as First Teachers Literacy Expo” by a community multicultural
group;
- a Sound and Light Show by the local Historical Society;
- a Sri Lankan Storytime in Singhalese and a Turkish Storytime in Turkish;
- a “Transition into Further Education” event by the local Disability Service;
- an “Early Years Literacy Expo” at a downtown learning centre;
- an interactive energy display by the Alternative Technology Association.

The festival was launched by presentation of the Australian National Opera’s “OZ
Opera” – a children’s opera group that performed before several hundred ele-
mentary school children.

Hume City Council approved the first civic Social Justice Charter in Australia in
2001. Development of an Inaugural Citizens’ Bill of Rights in 2004 followed.
Hume City Council sees the Global Learning Village as an important means of
ensuring the learning that will fulfill the Charter and the Bill of Rights’ objectives
of social justice and social inclusion.

Hume library membership and circulation has grown by about 23% annually
since 2003. The City Council has broadened the role of its libraries from custo-
dians of knowledge to learning facilitators. 28

The Global Learning Village is sponsoring a very successful Inspiring Stories pro-
ject that celebrates “ordinary people doing extraordinary things” in Hume whether
in the community, arts, sport or business field. It is also offering Inspiring
Teacher Scholarships of $1,500 to $5,000 for teachers, registered trainers, tu-
tors, coaches, learning facilitators and child care workers to learn new ap-
proaches in Australia or overseas.

28
Department for Victorian Communities, 2006, Local Government: Partnerships, Ideas and Action, Lo-
cal Government Victoria Division, Melbourne.

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 • Shire of Melton: http://www.melton.vic.gov.au/Page/PagePrint.asp?Page_Id=86

The Setting:

Melton Shire is a dormitory suburb of Melbourne with a population of about

76,000 persons. It is the fastest growing municipality in Victoria State with a re-
cent annual growth rate of over 9%. Approximately 80% of the Shire’s working
population travels outside the shire to access employment.

Process, Structure and Funding:

The Melton Community Learning Board, created in 2004 upon the Shire of Mel-
ton declaring itself a “learning community,” is the key body that oversees devel-
opment of the Shire of Melton as a learning community. The Board, a subcom-
mittee of the Shire Council, is composed of providers of learning from infants to
seniors (early childhood services through to local library services and the Univer-
sity of the Third Age), and youth and industry representatives. The Board Chair,
who had previously led development of a learning city initiative in a near-by city,
is the Executive Director of the Melton Local Learning and Employment Network.

The Shire has entered into a joint venture with Victoria University – the Melton
Township Learning Precinct – to coordinate and implement the three-year Com-
munity Learning Plan strategies. The Learning Hub of the Precinct is located at
the Melton Campus of Victoria University – that is developing itself as a commu-
nity college.

Yet another innovation in the conventional education and training system delivery
of the region is creation of Learning Innovations West – a partnership of educa-
tion, training and employment services in three western suburbs of Melbourne –
of which Melton Shire is one.

Basic funding sources are Melton Shire and partners from the education and
learning and employment networks. Additional project funding is obtained from
the State of Victoria.

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

Three public schools have collaborated in shared information campaigns, course

piloting and shared classes with increased student numbers and retention.
There has been a similar rise in participation and retention rates, and work
placements, in the post-secondary colleges with increased numbers of students
going on to further education or employment. Overall, there has been increased
industry involvement and support for the Shire’s education and training system. 29

29
Blunden, P., 2005, “Melton: A Learning Community”, Report of the Deputy Chair, Melton Community
Learning Board (November 2005).

- 30 -
D. Canada; Victoria: http://dv2020.urbanreader.net/archives/action_plans/000018.php

“Men and women have within themselves and their communities the spiritual and in-
tellectual resources adequate to the solution of their own problems.” 1946 Statement
of Purposes, Canadian Association for Adult Education.

The Setting:

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, has a population of about 78,000 persons.
Victoria leads the country with the highest percentage (25%) of adults having a
bachelor’s degree or higher. About 72% of all adult residents have taken some form
of post-secondary education. The Victoria region is the home of two public and two
private universities and a large community college.

Of the over 22,000 businesses in the region, 93% employ less than 20 people. Pub-
lic administration provides 40% of regional income but service-oriented and knowl-
edge-based industries form the basis of the city economy. Over half of the working
population commutes within City boundaries but two-thirds of all of the regional work-
force comes into the city.

Process, Structure and Funding:

In 2003/04, the Downtown Victoria Community Alliance – a business led organization

– initiated a 2020 Vision process that included a series of public conferences in
2003/04 and the creation of a Working Group on “Downtown as a Place of Learning.”
The Working Group reported that:

“By 2020, Victoria will be known as a leading learning community. The city en-
hances its economic, environmental and social conditions on a sustainable and in-
clusive basis, using lifelong learning as an organizing principle and cultural goal that
mobilizes the human, social, built capital and other educational resources within its
civic, economic, education and voluntary/community sectors.”

The Working Group identified 2020 lifelong learning objectives such as:

- quality early learning/childcare for infants of downtown employees and residents;

- individual learning plans for at least 50% of downtown workers;
- elder college participation of downtown seniors will exceed 50%;
- cross-sector initiatives related to the arts and learning will increase by 50%;
- a doubling of educational tourism: visitation, temporary and medium to long term.

It also called for strategies to ensure that the downtown was a “dynamic service core
of arts and learning” and to provide the means to support “creative and learning in-
dustries of downtown” such as development of a Victoria Arts and Learning Trust,
and implementation of a “Civic Place Management Strategy.” Short- to medium-term
action included development of a “new Central Library as an anchor to a downtown
learning precinct.”

- 31 -
 The City of Victoria embedded the development of Victoria as a learning city into its
policy framework (i.e., 2004 Corporate Strategic Plan).

Some Exemplary Initiatives:

The Mayor created a “Learning Commons Task Force” in the fall of 2004 that re-
ported to City Council in the summer of 2005 that:

- in May 2005, the City had proclaimed itself as a “Global Learning City;”
- the Council had initiated a multi-tracked Youth Initiative including: creation of a
Youth Council; development of an associated service-learning “citizen appren-
ticeships” in collaboration with the School District; and exploration of a joint
School Board-City youth “Restorative Justice” Initiative. 30

The City of Victoria has produced a Socio-Economic Profile that includes both
Neighbourhood Profiles and associated Community Resources Inventories that pro-
vides maps and lists of resources and services including community, recreation,
education and seniors and childcare facilities, housing and social service agencies,
and places of worship. 31

6. Analysis; Lessons Learned:

“Building learning organizations is not an individual task. It demands a shift that goes all
the way to the core of our culture. We have drifted into a culture that fragments our
thoughts, that detaches the world from the self and the self from the community. We are so
focused on our security that we don’t see the price we pay: living in bureaucratic organiza-
tions where the wonder and joy of learning have no place. Thus, we are losing the spaces
to dance with the ever-changing patterns of life. We need to invent a new learning model for
business, education, health care, government and the family. This invention will come from
the patient, concerted efforts of communities of people invoking aspiration and wonder. As
these communities manage to produce fundamental changes, we will regain our memory –
the memory of the community nature of the self and the poetic nature of language and the
world – the memory of the whole.” Peter Senge, Creating Quality Communities. 32

A. An Overview:

In an age when a tsunami of political economic and technological forces has resulted in
the restructuring of whole nations and industries, workplaces and communities, those ju-
risdictions least capable of learning how to manage change are the most vulnerable.
Failed states and market failure are commonplace where the stock of human and social
capital is diminished – in such conditions, the people’s last and only hope is the commu-
nity. 33

30
City of Victoria, 2005, Interim Report of the City of Victoria Downtown “Learning Commons” Task
Force to the Mayor and Council (July 25, 2005).
31
See URL: http://www.victoria.ca/residents/profiles.shtml.
32
See URL: http://www.eccdc.org/creating_quality_communities.pdf. Page 6 of 7.
33
Bowles, S. and H. Gintis, 2002, “Social Capital and Community Governance,” The Economic Journal,
112. (November), Royal Economic Society, Oxford. Pp. 419-36.

- 32 -
 In those nations that are proactively meeting the challenges of the emerging knowledge-
based economy and society – chiefly the richer member-nations of the OECD – learning
communities of place, i.e., learning towns, cities and regions, have been seen by some
government leaders as an important initiative. In the advanced nations, the necessary
political will and commitment are based on a number of interrelated policy assumptions
understood at both central and local levels, including:

• lifelong learning is a useful organizing principle and desirable social/cultural goal to

which all nations and communities should aspire; 34
• the old social/economic policy dichotomy is particularly misleading, and dysfunc-
tional, in the emerging knowledge-based political economy that recognizes the im-
portance of the human/social capital synergy; 35
• glocalization – the recognition of the interpenetration of the local and the global that
celebrates the importance of local values and interests and the interaction with global
forces and issues – is an alternative to uncritical acceptance of globalization; 36
• the “risk society”, characterized by complexity – if not chaos – and subsequent low
levels of predictability, demands continuous learning of individuals and organizations,
including governments; 37
• a society (or community) that tolerates a permanent under-class is competitively dis-
advantaged compared to one that fosters the lifelong learning, participation and con-
tribution of all; 38
• governments at all levels must be challenged to develop “joined-up solutions” to the
“joined-up problems” they encounter – and end the departmental silos that are read-
ily apparent at the community level; 39
• city-wide action must be blended with neighbourhood specific initiatives that focus on
issues of local community importance and strengthening relevant community capac-
ity-building, including local leadership training. 40

34
OECD, 1996, Lifelong Learning for All, Paris. UNESCO, 1996, Learning: the Treasure Within, Paris.
35
Duke, C. et al , 2005, Rebalancing the Social and Economic: Learning, Partnership and Place,
NIACE, Leicester; OECD, 2001, The Wellbeing of Nations: the Role of Human and Social Capital,
CERI, Paris.
36
The past-President of the World Bank, James Wolfenson, is credited as the author of the concept of
“glocalization.”
37
Anthony Giddens, Director of the London School of Economics, is the initial exponent of the “risk so-
ciety” thesis and subsequent third way modes of analysis.
38
The European Commission has warned of creation of a “two-tiered society” differentiated by those
with knowledge and skills and those without. Canada faces a special challenge in regard to adult lit-
eracy skills. A C.D. Howe Institute report revealed that, based on the 2005 ALLS data, raising Can-
ada’s literacy scores “by one percent relative to the international average is associated with an even-
tual 2.5 percent relative rise in labour productivity and a 1.5 percent rise in GDP per head. These ef-
fects are three times as great as for investment in physical capital. Moreover, the results indicate that
raising literacy and numeracy for people at the bottom of the skills distribution is more important to
economic growth than producing more highly skilled graduates.” A 1.5 % GDP rise equals $18 billion
annually – a significant return on investment. Coulombe, S., and J. Tremblay, “Public Investment in
Skills: Are Canadian Governments Doing Enough?,” C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, No. 217 (Oc-
tober 2005), Ottawa.
39
The UK Blair government is a chief exponent of “whole-of-government” strategies that have, with lim-
ited success, attempted “joined-up” strategies to aid disadvantaged individuals and communities.
40
Neighbourhood renewal programs supplement learning city initiatives in the UK and Australia.

- 33 -
 There is no single model of learning communities or cities. A “cookie-cutter” approach
will not work. An important part of “learning” in learning cities is the process that early
champions engage in within their communities as they begin to discuss and reflect upon
the issues, challenges and assets that they and their colleagues identify. The setting of
every city is unique – its history, geography, demography and economy – and the values
and aspirations of its citizens can very greatly. There are, however, insights that can be
gained from those who are engaged in developing their learning communities of place.

Doctoral research in Australian universities provides scholarly analysis of, and reflection
upon, theory and practice of learning community development. 41 Victoria State has sys-
tematically supported evaluation of its “Learning Towns” initiative, as have several of its
leading communities such as Hume City and Mt. Evelyn in the Shire of Yarra Ranges. 42
The United Kingdom government has engaged in systematic reviews of its learning cit-
ies, and is currently engaged in action research of “testbed learning communities.” 43
Lessons learned in British Columbia’s learning communities are found in several docu-
ments. 44

The international consortium supporting the PASCAL Observatory on Place Manage-

ment, Social Capital and Learning Regions has sponsored several conferences and
many papers on aspects of learning community evaluation, as has the European Com-
mission. 45 Hence, some insights – and good practice – regarding learning city process,
structure, and funding; emerging priorities; use of learning technologies; and sustainabil-
ity are available from both international and local practice, as follows.

41
Candy, J., 2005, Town Planning for Learning Towns, Flinders University, Adelaide; Wheeler, L., 2004,
Negotiating the Agendas: Developing an Operational Framework through the Exploration of Learning
Network Models and Practices, RMIT University, Melbourne; Wong, S., 2004, The Practice and Pro-
gress of Geelong as a Learning City, RMIT University, Melbourne.
42
Sheed, J. and C. Bottrell, 2001, Learning Towns Network Program Evaluation, LaTrobe University,
Bendigo; State of Victoria, 2005, Measuring Impact: A Project Evaluation Tool, Education Centre
Gippsland and Morrison House of Mt. Evelyn, Adult Community Further and Community Education
Division of the Department of Education and Training, Melbourne; Wheeler, L. et al, 2005, Hume
Global Learning Village Learning Together Strategy: 2004/2008, Evaluation – A Report on Progress
to Date, Hume. http://www.lcc.edu.au/lcc/go/home/pid/124
43
Yarnit, M., Towns, Cities and Regions in the Learning Age: a Survey of Learning Communities, Lon-
don: DfEE, the Network for Learning Communities and the Local Government Association; Duke, C.,
2004, Learning Communities: Signposts from International Experience, NIACE, Leicester; Yarnit, M.,
2006, Building Local Initiatives for Learning, Skills and Employment: Testbed Learning Communities
Reviewed, UK Department for Education and Skills and NIACE, Leicester.
44
Faris, R. and W. Peterson, 2000, Learning-Based Community Development: Lessons Learned for
British Columbia, Ministry of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers, Victoria; Faris,
R., 2001, The Way Forward: Building a Learning Nation Community by Community, discussion paper
prepared for the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Toronto.
http://members.shaw.ca/rfaris/LC.htm
45
See URL: http://www.obs-pascal.com. The European Commission is funding, under the title R3L, 17
interlinked projects that will develop understanding of the benefits of lifelong learning in municipalities
and regions throughout the continent (Regional Networks in Lifelong Learning).
http://r3l.euproject.net The Commission has also supported the TELS (Towards a European Learning
Society) project that surveyed 80 European municipalities from 14 countries and analyzed their per-
formance and progress as learning cities.

- 34 -
 B. Process, Structural and Funding Models:

Learning cities, like all learning communities of place, are the products of innovative
process and structural development. Developmental processes interact with the deci-
sions made about how the learning resources of all five community sectors (civic, eco-
nomic, education, public and voluntary) can best be mobilized. Reflective learning dur-
ing all developmental stages – however they may be defined – is crucial. A study of de-
velopment of learning communities in Australia distilled three key findings:

• local community involvement leads to ownership and commitment to a learning

community;
• networks and partnerships are fundamental to the development of a learning com-
munity;
• learning is integral and adds value to every step in the development of a learning
community. 46

Process:

There appears to be a general pattern to the process of learning community develop-

ment. Initially, a small group of champions – often from almost every community sector
– meet to explore the concept of a learning city. Many times, local issues or crises have
motivated one of more of the local leaders to learn more about the concept of a “learning
city” – especially in nations such as the United Kingdom, Finland and Australia where
learning community networks (and associated websites) have raised awareness of the
concept.

One or more consultants knowledgeable about learning city development are often hired
to provide content expertise and guide an agreed-upon public process. Without excep-
tion, an open and transparent process is launched to create awareness of the initiative
and promote informed conversations about the future function and form of the learning
city initiative. Further, an asset-based approach that focuses on identifying and mobiliz-
ing the learning resources – individual and organizational – that exist in every one of the
five community sectors, and fostering effective collaborative strategies that will tran-
scend the traditional sectoral silos in order to produce exceptional results.

Often there is agreement that an “early success” is important to the longer-term pros-
pects of the initiative. Very frequently either a Festival of Learning or an Adult Learner’s
Week is a celebratory event that launches the public process – sometimes in concert
with a civic proclamation of commitment to a learning city initiative – and serves as an
initial step of an ongoing awareness/communications strategy.

46
Australian National Training Authority, 2000, Turning on Learning Communities: Report, Canberra.
This report identified four community development steps: identifying a need; planning; action; and re-
flection/evaluation. Wong identified three cycles – i.e., from awareness to involvement; from involve-
ment to understanding; and from understanding to commitment. Wong, S., 2004, The Practice and
Progress of Geelong as a Learning City, unpublished doctoral dissertation, RMIT University, Mel-
bourne.

- 35 -
 Structure and Funding:

Despite the significant differences in political structure in various nations – i.e., the
United Kingdom is a unitary state, albeit with a recent measure of devolution to Scotland
and Wales, while Australia is a federal system – there appear to be essentially two op-
tions for the structure and location of learning city initiatives (with some clear funding im-
plications). The first location is within local government (civic models) and the second is
within civil society as a non-governmental organization (NGO models). In either case, it
appears important that the initiative be housed in a “neutral space” that is seen by part-
ners from all community sectors as “non-threatening, non-competitive and belongs to the
whole community” and fosters cross-sectoral partnerships that address local issues and
build community capacity. 47

Civic Models:

There appear to be essentially three places within local government that learning city ini-
tiatives are located. The first is the education authority, which in the United Kingdom has
broad responsibilities for childhood, youth and some adult/college education (in Australia
and Canada this authority is more limited). The second is a variety of civic line depart-
ments ranging from economic development to community/social development units that
play lead roles in a number of learning cities. A third option, perhaps unique to the
Hume Learning City, is to have the initiative’s General Manager report directly to the
City’s senior administrator – and liaise horizontally with mangers of the line departments.

The strength of housing the initiative within an education authority is that a more com-
prehensive and coherent approach is possible in the formal learning sector. The weak-
ness is not only the optics but also the reality that the initiative is seen as an education
driven rather than a learning driven model – a fundamental difference that most non-
educator’s readily understand and some conventional educator’s appear unable to dis-
cern.

The strength of housing the initiative within a line department other than education is that
the initiative may immediately have strong links with other community sectors such as
the economic, the public (e.g., libraries) or the voluntary. The weakness is that the edu-
cational sectoral silo may be impermeable – and limited collaboration is forthcoming
from a sector that should play a crucial role in the emerging knowledge-based economy
and society.

Having the learning city unit report directly to the civic leadership appears to have spe-
cial strength as the initiative would have parity of esteem with all other civic functions
rather than be one of many functions within a line department. The challenge would be
to suffuse the policy, planning, budgeting and operation of every civic department with
the city’s lifelong learning corporate objective.

47
Wong, S., 2004, The Practice and Progress of Geelong as a Learning City, RMIT University, Mel-
bourne. Wong, the pioneer learning city developer in Geelong, also argues that the initiative: shifted
emphasis from education to lifelong learning; improved social inclusion and local economic perform-
ance; and that its participatory nature empowered citizenship and shifted the focus from institutions to
networks and groups.

- 36 -
 One clear advantage to a civic model is the apparent ability of this sector to attract fund-
ing from other, higher levels of government – particularly on a project basis. However,
the “disease of short-termism,” as the British call it, is ever-threatening. Governments
tend to think in terms of the four-year electoral cycle while the corporate sector is often
pre-occupied by the quarterly report. Equally harmful is the short-term “drive-by funding”
that is currently favoured by many levels of government, as well as many foundation
granters. Deeply rooted, inter-generational problems of many disadvantaged groups
that live in the shadows of our society have often taken generations to create. Why any-
one would think that one- to three-year project funding would significantly contribute to
the resolution of serious long-standing community issues is one of the great paradoxes
of a time when government rhetoric is about the need for evidence-based approaches –
while providing little or no evidence that their drive-by funding is having any long-term
impact. Ten year community development funding in the Welsh Communities First initia-
tive or some of the American Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC)
Program initiatives provide examples of more sensible approaches that enable commu-
nities, and particularly those working with them, to devote less time to form-filling and
grant-seeking and more time to the community developmental tasks for which they have
been engaged.

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Models:

There appear to be two alternatives in the NGO option. The first is common in the
United Kingdom – a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status. The second
is formation of a voluntary organization under a Societies Act.

The strength of a corporate model with charitable status is not only its potential flexibility
and responsiveness to changing challenges but also its ability to garner funds as a chari-
table body from both other foundations as well as other donors – an important feature for
sustainability.

An NGO model is arm’s length from government. This is paradoxically its overall
strength and weakness. Certainly this model is less prone to the executive or political fi-
ats or the sometimes cumbersome procedures of government bureaucracies but it is not
immune from the shifting sands of political fortune – and like every one of the models or
options discussed, depends upon political will to foster community capacity to meet the
vicissitudes of an ever-changing knowledge-based economy and society.

C. Emerging Priorities:

Initial learning city development in Europe (including the United Kingdom) tended to fo-
cus on three interrelated objectives: economic development, including urban regenera-
tion; social inclusion; and expanded use of learning technologies for educational and
economic enterprise. 48 In recent years, these objectives have continued, and several
newer – but related – themes have developed.

48 st
Faris, R., 1998, Learning Communities: Cities, Towns and Villages Preparing for a 21 Century
Knowledge-based Economy, A Report submitted to the Resort Municipality of Whistler and the Centre
for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology, Victoria. Pioneering cities also shared a concern for adult
literacy and for adult guidance and information services. From the outset, they also identified the
need to have a capacity for social marketing, http://members.shaw.ca/rfaris/LC.htm.

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 New Themes:

The first wave of United Kingdom learning cities developed in the mid-1990s. They were
products of their time and manifested the social, economic and political priorities of their
day. In Australia, the majority of learning cities developed in the new millennium. They
had the advantage of assessing the first wave of United Kingdom experience and also of
drawing upon new insights from the social sciences regarding the impact of both human
and social capital upon the new knowledge-based political economy and society.

By the year 2000, two surveys of learning communities identified development of wider
concerns. A United Kingdom survey identified six themes of “best practice for
neighbourhood renewal,” including:

• family learning;
• basic skills (literacy and numeracy);
• engaging in community: skills for citizenship;
• employment: learning how to overcome the jobs mismatch;
• learning centre networks;
• sustainable schools and communities. 49

A survey in British Columbia identified six most common purposes for the learning-based
community development of learning communities – the CHEERS acronym – as follows:

• Citizenship Education;
• Health Promotion;
• Economic Development;
• Environmental Sustainability;
• Rural/Urban Development;
• Social/Cultural Development. 50

A second wave of learning communities in the United Kingdom, chiefly in smaller towns
and sometimes in rural regions, became testbed models equally influenced by social
capital and community capacity building theory and practice. 51 For the first time, the
United Kingdom, Australia and Canada have developed significant learning community
initiatives in both urban and non-metropolitan settings. At least three common themes –
one theoretical and two issue-oriented – may enjoy increasing importance in learning cit-
ies in all three nations.

49
Yarnit, M., 2000, Towns, Cities and Regions in the Learning Age: A Survey of Learning Communities,
UK Department for Education and Employment, London.
50
Faris, R. and W. Peterson, 2000, Learning-Based Community Development: Lessons Learned for
British Columbia, Ministry of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers, Victoria. Most
of the CHEERS purposes can be translated in terms of the literacy – i.e., civic literacy; health literacy;
economic literacy; environmental literacy; etc. The rural/urban relationship is of increasing interest as
economists and ecologists, for example, understand the importance of safe, secure local food
sources, and phenomena such as rural-urban work migration, and economic cluster development.
51
Duke, C., 2004, Learning Communities: Signposts from International Experience, NIACE, Leicester.

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 Social and Human Capital Analysis:

Human capital theory, the result of significant analysis and use since the 1960s, was by
the new millennium essentially an uncontested concept among mainstream economists.
While there was a slowly growing body of literature on social capital theory in the 1990s,
the publication of Robert Putnam’s modern classic, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and
Revival of American Community in the year 2000 placed the concept of social capital
firmly on the global political agenda.

OECD and World Bank interest in both social and human capital and the synergy thereof
has, in subsequent years, spurred work on the concepts – and their application at the
community level. Thus, predictably, the development of learning cities and their objec-
tives have been influenced by a consensus that good social capital – that not only builds
bonds but also bridges within and between communities – should be fostered as a
means of building community capacity, promoting social inclusion, and enhancing hu-
man capital development.

The link between lifelong learning as an organizing principle and social/cultural goal and
the fostering of human and social capital is among the issues being examined in several
Australian “learning towns.” 52 This appears to be an especially fruitful line for action re-
search that will assist in the cause of providing an increasingly sound theoretical, re-
search-based foundation for learning city development world-wide.

Environmental Issues:

While the first wave of United Kingdom learning cities seldom mentioned environmental
issues during their developmental stage, there has been gradual awareness of this im-
portant dimension of sustainability in some later initiatives. The Australian developments
appear to be much more influenced by the triple bottom line thinking and the pioneering
Albury-Wodonga Learning City, for instance, has always fostered learning and action
around local environmental issues.

Australia, New Zealand and Canada all have aboriginal people who have shared their
profound respect for the land and recognition of the interdependence of all living sys-
tems with newcomers. This gift has largely been spurned by the dominant society but
those communities that understand the wisdom of learning to act as if future generations
matter are best prepared to create a sustainable new economy and society. In the
Hume Global Learning Village, for example, an Aboriginal Advisory Committee has
clearly informed and influenced the learning initiative – to the benefit of all.

The pioneering Natural Step project of the Resort Municipality of Whistler – a learning
community and partner of the 2010 Olympics – will be among the innovative initiatives to
gain an international spotlight during the world games. Eco-literacy will be a major chal-
lenge in the coming decades, especially in the rapidly growing cities where most of the
Earth’s people live.

52
Dr. Leone Wheeler, RMIT University, is working with colleagues in both Hume City and Mt Evelyn re-
garding aspects of these evaluation issues. See Wheeler, L. et al, 2005, Hume Global Learning Vil-
lage Learning Together Strategy: 20042008, Evaluation – A Report on Progress to Date, Hume.
http://www.lcc.edu.au/lcc/go/home/pid/124

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 Citizenship:

Learning communities and cities are the incubators of democratic citizenship. The home
and the school, voluntary associations and the faith communities – all are the venues
where democratic values and skills are learned.

It is at the community level that the communitarian view of democracy is best under-
stood; simply put, no democracy can survive where citizens insist upon their rights but
do not accept their requisite responsibilities. Learning cities have, since ancient Athens,
been the places where civic literacy and learning are constantly informed, refreshed and
sustained by conversation and action about both one’s democratic rights and responsi-
bilities.

The creation of a Social Justice Charter and an associated Citizens’ Bill of Rights in
Hume Learning City is a leading-edge example of the current concern for active citizen-
ship and social inclusion that are crucial issues in multicultural learning cities.

The effective use of community service-learning within communities is well-documented

– as is its effect on the civic learning of the students engaged in the initiatives. 53 Such
citizen apprenticeship of students, regardless of age, may well be one of the most impor-
tant contributions to building community capacity and ensuring a sustainable democracy
for the future.

D. What is the Difference?: A Summary

A “Learning City” is not an attractive but largely empty slogan. Rather it is a city that has
learned new ways of suffusing the organizing principle of lifelong learning through the
policy and practice of all five sectoral partners. Hence the learning resources of all five
community sectors are mobilized in response to the constant change and challenges of
the emerging knowledge-based economy and society. Such a comprehensive and inte-
grated approach is on one end of a continuum that contrasts with the polar opposite –
some conventional communities in which comprehensive, coherent and systematic pro-
motion of individual and organizational learning are largely absent and short-term, siloed
thought and action predominates (see Appendix #2: Towards a Learning City: A Contin-
uum).

Learning occurs in every community, but the explicit use of the concept of lifelong learn-
ing as an organizing principle and social/cultural goal that informs the analysis, planning,
and implementation of sectoral and cross-sectoral partnerships and collaborative strate-
gies is the essential and distinguishing feature of a learning community. 54

53
See “Civic Literacy” section of Faris, R., 2006, Learning Cities Annotated Bibliography, Vancouver
Learning City Initiative, Vancouver. Pp. 18-19. The UK National Curriculum now includes service-
learning provision; over five million U.S. school students and some 500 American universities and col-
leges engage in service-learning activities.
54
Candy, J., 2005, Town Planning for Learning Towns, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Flinders Uni-
versity, Adelaide.

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 Almost all communities have the rudimentary social and human capital – and past and
present learning initiatives – that can be built upon. Key readiness criteria – willingness
to learn how to form sustainable partnerships within and among all community sectors,
and how to foster the learning participation of all community members – make a critical
difference if the lifelong learning journey a city commits to is to be successful. These cri-
teria are, in fact, the key success determinants that both British and Canadian experi-
ence has verified. 55

Based on an assessment of learning communities in other countries, we know that be-

coming a learning city:

• provides a coherent, integrated and comprehensive approach to the lifelong learning

necessary for individuals and communities to face the ever-changing challenges of
the knowledge-based economy and society of the 21st century;
• makes it easy for all people to learn and continue learning, in a variety of ways;
• places learning at the heart of community capacity building and development;
• fosters early learning and the literacy, including learning how to learn, as the founda-
tions of a lifelong learning strategy;
• celebrates, and inspires enthusiasm for, continuous learning of all;
• values what exists and uses existing learning resources but seeks to constantly de-
velop deeper understanding and identify new ways of doing things;
• enables increased pathways between the formal learning (education) sector and the
non-formal (workplace, community and not-for-profit sectors) through active partner-
ships;
• uses and builds human and social capital, including the multicultural values and
knowledge base of aboriginals, as well as recent immigrants;
• promotes social inclusion – i.e., those previously marginalized can, through active
learning, end dependency relationships and contribute to their communities;
• uses learning technologies as tools to acquire the full range of literacy and learning
for all, to establish intra- and inter-community networks to share common concerns
and best practices;
• commits to a vision and strategy with immediate impacts and long-term conse-
quences;
• invests in learning that brings lifelong benefits to both individuals and their communi-
ties – i.e., investment in formal education and non-formal learning has been proven
to be the best means of combating poverty, increasing overall health, and eliminating
social exclusion. 56

55
Faris, R. and W. Peterson, 2000, Learning-based Community Development: Lessons Learned for
British Columbia, Ministry of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers, Victoria; Faris,
R., 2001, The Way Forward: Building a Learning Nation Community by Community, discussion paper
prepared for the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Toronto.
56
Keating, Daniel P. and Clyde Hertzman, 1999, Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations: So-
cial, Biological and Educational Dynamics, The Guildford Press, New York.

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7. Vancouver; A Choice of Futures:

Vancouver city has a wealth of social, cultural, economic and environmental assets – includ-
ing substantial learning resources – that can be mobilized as it prepares for the emerging
global knowledge-base economy and society.

Its diverse multicultural nature will enable it to draw upon the strong learning traditions of
new Canadians from South-East Asia to the Middle East, as well as use the comparative
advantage of a wealth of linguistic skills and familial links in a global economy.

Its rich cultural and artistic resources ensure a creative potential the envy of most cities. Its
libraries, museums, science centres, educational institutions and neighbourhood houses are
among the nation’s best. Voluntary and community associations enrich every neighbour-
hood. The city has, by any measure, substantial human and social capital. An emerging
new economy based on knowledge and learning, and which enables citizens to participate
and contribute, will create a sustainable future for this world-class city.

The City government has been recognized as a Canadian leader in policy, planning and
practice in such fields as the arts and culture, the environment and the drug abuse strat-
egy 57.

Vancouver can become recognized as the most socially inclusive; culturally exciting; envi-
ronmentally sustainable; and economically advanced city in the world. Political will, a
shared vision, and a generous spirit that transcends the sectoral silos and mobilizes all the
learning resources of this unique place are the intangible assets that can ensure a success-
ful Vancouver Learning City Initiative. The choice is ours.

57
See the Vancouver City website regarding commitments in an array of policy areas. For example, ”A
Sustainable City”; and “City Principles of Sustainability” are found at:
http://vancouver.ca/sustainability

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 APPENDICES

1. A LEARNING CITY MATRIX: Examples of How a Community’s Sectors Contribute to

Achieve Shared Objectives

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2. TOWARDS A LEARNING CITY: A Continuum

⇐ Learning City Conventional City ⇒

- Towards an Ideal - - A Variable Beginning -

ECONOMIC SECTOR

PROACTIVE PARTNERS IN A KNOWLEDGE- REACTING TO ECONOMIC CHANGE

BASED ECONOMY
 literacy, learning how to learn, team and  literacy and learning are ignored as fun-
thinking skills provide a comparative eco- damental to a strategy for managing eco-
nomic advantage nomic change
 social and human capital is valued, added  social and human capital is unrecognized
to, and used for comparative advantage and largely untapped
 learning is seen as an investment  education is seen as a cost
 learning is seen as a social process that  learning is viewed as an individual activity
results in a comparative community advan- solely for individual economic benefit
tage for economic development  innovations are isolated and viewed as
 innovations are supported by interactive competitive threats by others in the com-
learning among learning organizations munity
within the community  companies and education often compete:
 economic and education partners share there is often little or no community ac-
their training resources with each other and cess to resources of either
the community  supply chain training is sporadic or non-
 larger firms share training resources with existent
their supply chain  few, if any, firms offer individual learning
 most firms foster individual learning plans plans

CIVIC SECTOR

CIVIC LITERACY & ENGAGEMENT PUBLIC APATHY & CYNICISM

 fosters learning within and across all its  civic government is viewed in competition
department policies and practices e.g., with school and recreation board initia-
community policing; restorative justice; po- tives
lice recruit job shadowing of youth workers;  civic learning resources (expertise and fa-
Youth Council cilities) are largely untapped in terms of
 enables student service-learning opportuni- youth leadership and civic literacy
ties that enhance youth leadership and  joined-up problems of under-education, ill-
civic literacy health, poor housing, etc. are dealt with by
 joined-up problems are dealt with by joined government departmental silos
solutions across government portfolios

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 ⇐ Learning City Conventional City ⇒
- Towards an Ideal - - A Variable Beginning -

PUBLIC SECTOR

A PROACTIVE PUBLIC SECTOR REACTING TO CHANGE

 library, museum, social and health agen-  library and other public sector providers
cies are partners that sometimes play a are seen as supplemental to education
lead role in providing learning opportunities sector provision
e.g., IT or health literacy  public sector is seldom adequately aided
 not-for-profit sector is supported to provide to support community service-learning
service-learning and other voluntary learn- and other voluntary activities
ing opportunities

EDUCATION SECTOR

NEW EDUCATION OLD EDUCATION

 both formal and non-formal sector learning  education is seen as sole provider of
resources are mobilized learning
 many pathways are created within and be-  the formal education system has few links
tween formal and non-formal learning sec- to the non-formal learning sectors, particu-
tors in a coherent, seamless system larly the community
 learning is seen as the common denomina-  education is viewed as prestigious and
tor of education/training training is devalued
 education is viewed as an important part-  education is seen to have a monopoly on
ner in production and distribution of learn- the production and distribution of learning
ing  the education system has few, if any, links
 the education system builds partnerships with the other four community sectors
with the other four community sectors  weak literacy & learning skills widen gap
 literacy and learning how to learn provide between under-educated minorities and
foundations for life-span learning the educated dominant society
 the education system provides community  the education system provides few, if
service-learning opportunities at the ele- any, community service-learning opportu-
mentary, secondary and post-secondary nities at any level of schooling
levels  there are few preventative learning strate-
 health determinants and brain research in- gies and access to quality early health
forms preventative learning strategies to and learning opportunities is either limited
save costly remedial education, health, or non-existent
criminal justice, and social programs

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 ⇐ Learning City Conventional City ⇒
- Towards an Ideal - - A Variable Beginning -

VOLUNTARY SECTOR

VOLUNTARY LEARNING SECTOR VOLUNTEERISM

 voluntary service provides opportunities for  volunteerism is seen as a means of reduc-
both volunteer learning and enriching so- ing delivery costs
cial capital  volunteerism is employed to replace paid
 pathways between voluntary service and employment
paid employment are systematically devel-  volunteers may or may not be adequately
oped trained
 volunteers are well-trained members of
quality provision teams

LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES

LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES: A TOOL A DIGITAL DIVIDE

 local lifelong learning strategy developed  incoherent, sporadic, and unequal learn-
with learner smart cards to facilitate learn- ing opportunities are provided with chief
ing for all benefits to an educated elite with access
 universal local, public access to learning to learning technologies
technologies and training for networking  limited public access to learning technolo-
within and among communities gies with little networking/training beyond
the community

OVERALL CONSEQUENCE

OVERALL GOAL OVERALL RESULT

 the development of a lifelong learning cul-  some individuals promote lifelong learning
ture is a community goal values and life styles

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