Publish at November 23 2010 Updated May 30 2023
The concept of the learning city or region is almost as popular as that of lifelong learning. In fact, they both appeared in the public debate around the same time. They both illustrate the conviction, translated into public and private political strategies, that learning is the unavoidable condition for development.
Learning is the key to development.
The two notions are complementary: while lifelong learning concerns the individual, the learning city or region concerns the collective, the synergy of players acting in the same territory. Transforming a territory into a learning city or region means, in short, providing as many opportunities as possible for everyone to learn throughout their lives, to develop economic, cultural and social activities for the benefit of all.
.It's easy to understand that any city or region now wants to become " learning ", to enter the knowledge and innovation economy that characterizes post-industrial society, so as to hold its own in global competition and attract the forces of goods and services production to its territory. Individuals, for their part, have everything to gain from living in a learning city or region, to constantly develop the training opportunities that will guarantee their value on the job market on the one hand, and their place as full-fledged citizens in the public arena on the other.
Each city or region has specific assets on which to base its development strategy. This is described in Kurt Larsen's article on the OECD Observer website, based on examples from German, Scandinavian, French, Spanish and English regions.
The importance of place lies in the proximity of the actors who inhabit it: " there are many advantages to operating within labor markets with precise geographical boundaries and adhering to the same set of regional conventions, values and norms ". This is because the learning that drives innovation most often takes place informally, over the course of opportunities to meet and exchange information.
The coming together of actors united by shared values, norms and conventions can then give rise to learning communities. This is the premise developed by Ron Faris in a remarkable issue of the journal A lire en ligne, published by the Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français (FCAF): " The learning community (...) appears as a functional and organic unit made up of a structured group of people working around common objectives and a common project, at the heart of an ongoing and continuous educational process, calling for global responsibility within the educational community. The learning community centered on place, be it a city, a village or a neighborhood, is at the heart of the challenge posed by the (sustainable) development of our societies ". The learning community supports individual and collective learning, in the following five areas:
On the same site, you'll find a very interesting document showing through a table how, in each of these five sectors, appear the differences between a learning city approach and a traditional city approach.
We see that the education sector, like others, needs to make major changes to integrate a global approach to widespread learning. The formal education sector must forge links with that of informal education, so as to value the globality of learning; it must therefore establish partnerships with other sectors of society; it must take an interest in all publics, and not just young people in initial training; it must also integrate into everyday life modes of constructing learning that are not solely dictated by school tradition and the intrinsic value of knowledge as hierarchized by the school, but that provide everyone with the tools necessary for lifelong learning.
The development of ICT uses and new digital services holds a privileged place in the strategy of learning cities and regions. This is because they both improve the circulation and sharing of information within learning communities, and link the latter to the wider global community. What's more, they make it possible to meet the needs of a very large number of learners. Indeed, it seems illusory to believe that a learning city or region, however rich in learning opportunities, can respond in a timely fashion to all the learning demands of an entire community committed to lifelong learning. This is where ICT comes into its own.
And it's easy to see how the local learning community can be linked to the global learning community, through territorialized learning environments that are as close as possible to the learner, and insensitively moving into the virtual dimension, as Ron Faris shows with this representation:
Learning cities or regions therefore have everything to gain by banking on learning to stimulate innovation in all sectors of society, with a global perspective of sustainable development. Many cities have already embarked on this path, which requires long-term vision, a great deal of energy and anticipation. As an example, and to end on an inspiring note, let's take a look at what those responsible for the "Montréal, ville apprenante, de savoir et d'innovation" program have to say.
"Learning cities", the new recipe for regional development. Kurt Larsen, OECD Observer.
Cities, villages and neighborhoods... Places to foster learning. Revue A Lire en ligne, FCAF, spring 2010, downloadable in .pdf.
Towards a learning city, a continuum (.pdf). FCAF website
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