"European cities need to provide more than just bricks and mortar" 04-12-2007 "European cities are increasingly recognising the need to provide more than
just bricks and mortar - and this requires additional skills", says Jayne
Crosse, director of strategy and practice at the Academy for Sustainable
Communities (ASC) based in Leeds, United Kingdom. European cities are quickly
changing into hubs for innovation, growth and entrepreneurship. As a result, the
ability of local governments to create sustainable communities for their
citizens has become increasingly important. The sustainable communities agenda
has been an important topic of discussion since the agreement of the Bristol
Accord and the adoption of the Leipzig Charter. There is a general agreement
that the sustainable development of cities is of vital importance to ensure the
future liveability of European cities. But exactly how do we create sustainable
communities? What skills do cities need to succeed in providing such living
environments for people? Jayne Crosse presents her ideas on the importance of
the sustainable communities agenda and the skills it requires to pursue it
successfully.
Why should Europe build sustainable communities?
"People want to live in a place where they have good homes, abundant
services, safety, interest and education. European cities are increasingly
recognising the need to provide more than just bricks and mortar and are quickly
becoming hubs for innovation, growth and entrepreneurship. It is vital that we
learn from best practice in the creation of sustainable and successful places."
Why is the skills for sustainable communities agenda so important? Where
does this rather new interest in skills and capacity development come from?
"Evidence shows that building sustainable communities requires the bringing together of the understanding and skills from a range of disciplines. The most successful regeneration brings together housing, planning, transport, public services and effective governance into a more comprehensive package. The European Union’s focus is on the creation of full employment, sustainable growth and a decent quality of life for the citizens of the Union. Central to delivering those objectives are investment in the development of infrastructure and improvements to the skills necessary to make it a reality. The creation of truly sustainable communities requires the professionals working in the sector to have not just technical, but generic skills. They need good governance, public participation, partnership working, excellent public services and civic pride. The creation of sustainable cities are about learning from the mistakes of the past and linking social, economic and environmental programmes." What are the problems when it comes to skills and capacity in European
cities/countries? Where do these problems come from?
"It is understood that professional skills and working across disciplines is
critical to be able to both undertake effective regeneration and to respond to
the new European policy concerns. Skills that are based on working within
managed networks, learning from best practice and sharing experience to tackle
common problems. There are several critical skills for success in these new EU
programmes. First of all generic skills, including community engagement,
partnership working, behaviours and values, visioning, leadership, stakeholder
management, conflict resolution and customer awareness are important. Secondly,
technical skills including financial, management, innovation and appraisal
techniques are needed. And finally, specialist skills for non specialists
including skills to develop low carbon economies, encourage community cohesion,
develop environmental management and waste minimisation, design regeneration
approaches that are able to secure sustainable growth and reduce pollution and
tackle land remediation and reclamation are vital."
Some will say the skills agenda is a British formulation that is
difficult to translate to other European countries. Could you comment on this
statement?
"I believe that you only have to look to the European Skills Symposium (2006)
for evidence of the enthusiasm for this agenda across Europe. Two hundred
professionals from thirty countries took part in debate about the need to focus
on skills and embed it as an integral part of the development of policies and
practices in relation to urban development. There is however a need for common
terminology to create ease of communication and hopefully through involvement in
EUKN, debate to create this terminology will occur."
Where does/should the funding of investments in skills come from?
"We have previously gained recognition at the European level for funding skills support in preparation for the European skills symposium. Through URBACT funding we established a very successful working group that included a number of organisations and countries such as the Council of Europe, OECD, EUKN, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden and France." Where does the skills agenda stand now and how does its future look? What
are the plans for the future?
"The European Commission and Member State Governments have shown through
their Bristol Accord and the Leipzig Declaration that they recognise the need to
improve and integrate the professional skills needed to deliver successful,
sustainable communities on the ground across the EU. New challenges such as
climate change, the security of water and energy supply and changing
demographics will be ever increasingly felt by urban professionals. This will
place a continued emphasis on high value skills, knowledge and professional
development to ensure flexible responses to changing economic factors. These are
all factors which make it critical to provide a forum for professionals to share
experience and knowledge on skills and capacity building and draw on lessons
from around Europe."
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