Cities and their communities everywhere are challenged by socio-economic shifts in a global environment of escalating change. Shifts in values between generations in a more individualistic society, increased mobility of people leading to more diversity in communities, changing employment requirements, and an on-going impact of new technologies in their cumulative impact confront cities with a broad spectrum of complex challenges.
In some cases, social change has gone along with a weakening of social bonds and trust. Recent events, such as the UK riots, have highlighted this spectrum of issues, but deeper social changes need to be understood with holistic responses, often innovative and non-traditional, brought forward. This PIE Theme adddresses those issues;
Peter Kearns:
I would welcome your comments on the Xploit approach and the basic concepts of involvement and empowerment and some applications with disengaged youth, unemployed, migrants perhaps with some reference to the Scandinavian adult learning tradition. I would also be interested in the MIT Media Lab in Boston media learning concepts that you mention.
This note from the Director of the University of Queensland Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre in Ipswich comments on some responses to disadvantage in Ipswich a city west of Brisbane that has suffered a number of forms of disadvantage and adversity, including floods in 2010:
A recent Australian survey undertaken under the Scanlon Foundation Mapping Social Coherence research program reached some sobering conclusions. This is the third survey under this program which follows up on surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009. It found a sharp fall in the level of trust of the federal government, in inter-personal trust, and an increase in reported experience of discrinimation.
Norman Longworth has long been a leading thinker and writer in the field of lifelong learning and learning cities, and has contributed much. The recent riots in England have prompted much discussion of social trends in England, and what is seen by many as a weakening of social bonds and connections, and a weakening of social, moral, and human capital in cities with growing inequality and exclusion.
Here is a timely and thought provoking piece from PASCAL Associate John Field. Noting that despite the controversial law and order response of the Thatcher government to the riots of 1981, there were nevertheless some important educational initiatives taken in the following months. John Field explores some ideas for further iniatives which could be pursued in response to the situation in England now, which range over reviews of the funding for learning, a fresh look at young men's education, and the potential for ad
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