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John Tibbitt
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Learning and the Resilience Dividend

Speaking in Glasgow recently, Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, drew attention to Glasgow's role as one of the first cities selected to be part of the 100 Resilient Cities programme, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Glasgow features prominently in her new book 'The Resilience Dividend', a powerful volume drawing lessons from the programme so far in helping cities manage disruption, avoid disasters and grow stronger as a result.

She emphasised that resilience lies in people, in cities, and in systems, and drew attention to 5 key features of resilient cities, namely

  • awareness - the capacity to take in information;
  • diversity - diverse strengths to fall back on;
  • integration - sharing information across systems;
  • self-regulation - rethink and re-organise when necessary; and
  • adaptability - the nimbleness to act as required.

She identified major challenges cities face stemming from climate change and globalisation.  Cities are continuing to grow rapidly, and it has been estimated that 40% of the infrastructure cities will require by 2050 has still to be built.  It was therefore important not to get it wrong, and to learn lessons whenever possible.

She saw crises, of many sorts, as the new normal, which made it all the more important to be prepared in time, rather than wait for a new crisis before acting.  The essence of the resilient city lies in

  • learning through data;
  • investment in infrastructure and in social capital;
  • efficient connected governance and leadership; and
  • focus on innovation.

In her terms, the resilience dividend lies in readiness, recovery and re-vitalisation.

It was interesting that several members of the audience raised issues of where, in this apparently rather 'top-down' approach to resilience, was the place of learning, social capital and community capacity building? 

Many of the issues identified in her work and the Rockefeller Foundation programme link closely with the learning city concept being developed in PASCAL.  When asked about the link, Judith Rodin was clear about the importance of learning at all levels, even if she had emphasised learning by cities themselves through developing data and analytic resources. She was clear that resilience was learned and not innate.  There clearly needs to be more dialogue about promoting an overt recognition of the role of learning in city development generally and in city resilience in the face of 21st century pressures.

Comments

Connections between Learning Cities and Resilience

by Peter Kearns - Jan 23 2015 - 14:25

I found your note on the Glasgow talk by Judith Rodin very interesting. By co-incidence I had come across her interest in this area in one of the American magazines that I read - so  I had acquired her book on this subject before I read your note. We consider this as a possible theme for the June 2016 PASCAL Glasgow Conference. I also hope we can generate a dialogue on this subject on the LCN Networks site so that any ideas you have would be useful.

Where do we make the connections between Learning Cities and Resilience? Is this through citizenship and social cohesion?

Judith Rodin discusses social cohesion in her book.

Is EcCoWell relevant? Do we need to add a r to EcCoWell (ie EcCorWell?).

Resilience is a term policy people readily respond to

by John Tibbitt - Jan 23 2015 - 14:29

Thank you for this.  It was exactly the issue of linking the learning city with promoting city resilience that struck me when listening to Judith Rodin speak, and I do agree that this should be explored amongst the learning city networks, and could be a powerful theme for the 2016 conference.  Resilience is a term policy people readily respond to, in a way that somehow they don’t about ‘learning’.

It was also interesting at the Glasgow event that all the questions to Judith Rodin were concerned in different ways with enhancing or promoting the civic and community buy-in to resilience, through learning, community capacity building, public health and the role of the voluntary sector.  The crucial processes it seems to me are how the wider community can come to recognise that meaningful social change and well-being for them can follow from the kind of major infrastructure investments, reformed governance arrangements, re-skilling programmes and economic developments typically included in economic development (and resilience) planning, and how community empowerment through learning can influence or even drive such development.  It is in here somewhere that the connection between learning cities and resilience lies.

I also think that there is an interesting comparative paper to be written exploring the relative importance of different features in cities which are labelled differently e.g. smart cities, learning cities, entrepreneurial cities, resilient cities and so on.  The more I read it seems to me that each draws attention to a number of similar aspects, but prioritises them differently.  Most will recognise aspects of learning, but do not prioritise it in the way that the learning city does. The relationship between learning and the wider ecosystem of urban development and change I would suggest is where we need to be focussed.

A contribution from Glasgow to the EcCoWell Network?

by Peter Kearns - Jan 23 2015 - 14:35

Thank you for these very interesting and pertinent comments. I agree there are threads here we need to pursue. In looking at how we connect learning and resilience, I feel we need to look more closely at learning and building citizenship in local communities. This I feel has been neglected in most initiatives in the West. Oddly enough it is better done in Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. An impressive feature for me in Beijing and Shanghai is the way their initiatives reach down to local neighbourhoods (including even streets) with local community colleges and centres having a key role. Taipei is the same with a community college established in each administrative district to promote both learning and citizenship. In one community college I visited one week in every course is given over to citizenship.

 
Judith Rodin makes a distinction in her book between neighbourhoods and communities (which I don't really agree with) in discussing social cohesion arguing that neighbourhoods should act as communities. This is surely one of the points of connection between Learning Cities and Resilient Cities. We can contribute ways of building community learning, civic values, and the potential for resilience through the work of community centres, libraries, etc.
 
It will be useful if you can keep in touch with Glasgow development as a Resilient City passing any insights on to the relevant Networks. I wonder if we should think of adding Resilience to the work of the EcCoWell Network so that they pick up resilience in their approach to the community and citizenship aspect of EcCoWell. I hope that Denis Barrett in Cork becomes aware of our thinking on this question. As you say, resilience may have a stronger resonance in some quarters than learning although learning can be seen to underpin most characteristics in Judith Rodin’s framework. I agree that this is a thread we should develop for the 2016 Glasgow conference. Let’s keep in touch.
 
With best wishes
Peter
P.S. Might this be a contribution from Glasgow to the EcCoWell Network within the LCN?

Glasgow - an early adopter and fertile case

by John Tibbitt - Jan 23 2015 - 14:45

Part of the reason why Judith Rodin was in Glasgow was because it was an early adopter and has proved a most fertile case study for her work. The city has demonsrated resilience both through such excellent major events as the Commonwealth Games and in he way it has responded to recent less happy events, the helicopter crash on the Clutha Bar in 2013 and the runaway dustbin lorry at George Square recently.   She commented on the strength of social cohesion demonstrated in different ways on each occasion.

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, in welcoming Jundith Rodin to the city spoke of Glasgow as 'a learning city', only too keen to learn from participation in the Resilience programme.  Alastair Brown, Glasgow's Cheif Resilience Officer, also spoke briefly about the city's response to participation.  The time seems absolutely right to progress the idea of a learning city in Glasgow.

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