Blogs

The new PASCAL Faiths and Learning Cities Network had its first Skype meeting with delegates from the USA, UK and Israel. The main purpose is to bring together interested scholars and practitioners in this area to share ideas and experiences about how the network should proceed.

The 15th PASCAL Conference will be held in Korea on 30-31 August 2018. The venue is the city of Suwon, part of metropolitan Seoul, Korea. The co-organiser is the GyeonggiDo Provincial Institute of Lifelong Learning (GILL).  The main theme of this first East Asia PASCAL Conference is "The Role of Lifelong Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.  

Hardly a week goes by without shocking news of a disaster in a city with implications for its future development and, often, for other cities as well. Think of the recent Grenfell Tower fire in London, raising questions about high-rise living elsewhere in London, but also in the Gulf, in Asia and in North America. Density demands that we build up because there are too many pressures on space in the neighbourhoods where people want to live. Human settlement patterns in the 20th century have favored coastal zones. Meanwhile, floods in Thailand and hurricanes in the United States show how difficult the coast can be to manage sustainably.

Monthly reflections from a civil society thought leader, Rajesh Tandon's views on emerging social, poltical and economic developments in India, and around the world, call upon us all to be thoughtful and participatory citizens.

Recently in Zadar, Croatia, I was given a marvellous booklet on the renovation and tourist "valorization" of the cultural and historical complex: The Rector's Palace.  On its solid foundation, for centuries it has been the site of culture, prestige and power.