Policy learning among cities
The growing city-learning eco-system
Portico, the new gateway to urban learning in the European Union is set for its official launch on 10 October in Brussels during the 2023 European Week of Regions and Cities. It is supported by the European Urban Initiative (EUI), Portico will have 3 main ‘pillars’. Available from its launch will be:
Knowledge hub – a repository which includes resources and tools from key EU actors such as the EUI, URBACT and the EU Urban Agenda which aims to support urban practitioners in building their knowledge and skills;
Urban Panorama – an overview of the main bodies contributing to the design and implementation of sustainable urban development policies and strategies in Europe; and
Portico Community – which is where urban practitioners interested in improving sustainable urban development from across the EU can exchange ideas, participate in discussions of relevant development themes and get information about up-coming events.
Portico is the latest knowledge sharing and community platform for sustainable urban development, and joins a formidable list of such bodies, ranging from country-specific organizations to large international groups with significant resources. Some are organizations of local government professionals, some are organizations of city mayors, whilst others are organizations of cities themselves. Some are essentially advocacy organizations representing and promoting the interests of cities to national governments, whilst others are advocates for policy approaches to address issues facing cities around the world such as sustainability, equity and inclusion, efficient transportation and climate change and net zero. Others again are forums for cities wishing to share experiences with policy initiatives and implementation or to collaborate in finding new policy solutions to the demands they face.
Add to this mushrooming range of academic research published in a bewildering collection of journals and discussed at conferences around the world, there is the output from some well-resourced campaign organizations on urban design and livability such as Project for Public Spaces (pps) and Living Streets in the UK.
This amounts to a vast array of information on policy and practice initiatives stemming from researchers, journalists and direct experience from which cities might draw. So how do cities navigate this sea of knowledge for their policy development? Is the available information what they need? Is it available in ways which are suitable for city-based policy-makers? And to avoid cities having to re-invent too many wheels, are the available mechanisms for information sharing effective? Whilst a comprehensive answer to these questions is beyond the scope of this essay – there is an important research study to be done here – I want to offer some observations on aspects and examples of cities learning based on my experiences over the years in participating, even peripherally in these arrangements.
Cities and Universities
The relationship between research and policy-making has never been easy. Whilst it has been the assumption for some time that policies should be ‘evidence-based’ rather than at the whim of prominent local or national politicians the nature of what constitutes useable evidence is not always clear. Academic rigor in conducting and disseminating research and changing political climates for policy-making make for a messy interaction between the two. Recent years have seen a growing interest in how universities engage with their host cities and regions. Some universities are committed to reaching out to cities in an effort to improve understanding of priorities and the timely provision of relevant research and analysis. There are examples of close collaboration between universities and cities with respect to urban policy and practice, for instance the development of the concept of the 15-minute city and supporting community regeneration come to mind. However, despite the best efforts of ‘region-intensive’ universities to reach out to cities, it still seems to be hard for cities and regions to ‘reach-in’ to research institutions to further their learning needs.
Cities and Foundations
Some prominent independent foundations such as Bloomberg, Carnegie and Rockerfeller have also been prominent supporters of initiatives for city policy and practice. A good example is the Rockerfeller Foundation’s 100 resilient cities programmes launched in 2013. Its work with approaches to city resilience has now been taken over by a city-run Resilient Cities Network which continues to help cities build and implement resilience strategies, and strengthen local initiatives with support from Resilient Communities Impact Funds. The initiative places great store on city-to-city learning to develop and share relevant strategies.
Peer learning among cities
Rather than depending on knowledge generated by others, it is striking how city networking to share and learn directly from other cities has developed in recent years around particular aspects of city development. The resilient city network is one such example. Others have been stimulated by international programmes such as the UNESCO Cities of Culture and the Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC). This last now has some 292 member cities spread across 76 countries. In other fields examples of city networks relate to smart cities, a market cities and . The Cities Alliance has some 200 member cities across 20 countries focused on poverty. The United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) is a global organization aimed at assisting the achievement of the SDGs at local level around the world. C40 cites is another initiative which has been very active in stimulating urban planning issues such as the 15-minute city concept which I have discussed in previous posts.
Cities engage with such organizations at a variety of levels. Most organizations have periodic global summits to discuss emerging issues and priorities and progress on current initiatives. Importantly, most global organizations have overseen the growth of regional networks of cities to share knowledge, experience and promote god practice in a more accessible and relevant way often supported by expert consultants.
Such initiatives can seek to raise standards of practice in their field. The GNLC provides a good example. Cities can apply for membership, but to be accepted must be able to demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning policies and provision and meet a set of agreed standards. The GNLC offers a platform for communication and explicitly supports co-learning among its member cities. It has developed guidance on key issues such as cities and sustainability, fostering city resilience and promoting inclusion and social cohesion. It supports local initiatives through periodic international conferences and publications.
It has also supported the establishing of regional or country-based learning city networks to enable frequent practice exchange between more local member cities. Similar issue focused learning city networks have been established by organizations such as the PASCAL International Observatory mentioned above, based at Glasgow University and with regional centres around the world. Learning City network exchanges can point to significant shared learning, for example in the delivery of local learning festivals and the delivery of a holistic approach to learning city programmes known as EcoWell. Peer learning on these and other topics in becoming a successful learning city is apparent in exchanges between cities in Asia, Europe and America, despite coming from very different cultural and political backgrounds.
It is interesting to note another region-based network, the Union of Baltic Cities which supports city-to-city learning through establishing commissions to examine and compare policies in different policy areas such as healthy cities, safe cities, smart and prosperous cities and learning cities. Commissions produce reports and papers which are available to all on their website. Focused inter-city working groups are a feature of other programmes such as URBACT in the European Union. URBACT is an exchange and learning programmes which encourages cities to work together to develop responses to major urban challenges such as social inclusion and social cohesion, green cities and productive cities, the priorities of the EU urban programme. URBACT maintains a substantial knowledge hub of materials derived from the outcomes of such work and offers a Cities University event, this year in Malmo, Sweden.
A city-learning eco-system?
The section above highlights only a selection of initiatives for supporting and encouraging city learning. Between them, they embrace 1000s of cities worldwide and yet there remains a demand to strengthen local government policymaking and good practice.
It is increasingly recognized that national policies which are ‘place-blind’ can be of limited effectiveness across a diverse range of cities. Policies need to be place-based, and embrace community participation.
Furthermore, to tackle the complex economic and social issues with which cities are faced requires an integrated approach recognizing the interaction between policies in specific areas if policy disconnect is to be avoided. This can be a challenge for city governance. This complex context for effective city policy and planning, especially in times of great pressure on resources, emphasizes the need for a city learning eco-system to provide policy-relevant learning beyond that which individual cities can sustain.
Important elements of such a system seem to be in place. There are numerous opportunities for peer support, to support learning and network building. Organizations and mechanisms exist to facilitate knowledge and learning events, meet-ups, and regional and international learning connections. There are numerous relevant participants including, local government associations, universities and colleges, professional organizations, advocacy groups and network ‘drivers’, to give leadership and which might be drawn from these sectors. Modern communication technologies facilitate much easier contact and exchange, and access to accumulated knowledge and learning.
And yet there remain constraints on the effectiveness of these arrangements to meet cities’ needs. Do the right people from city administrations participate in these networks and exchanges? Are learning materials sufficiently accessible and understandable? Do city political leaders and administrations have the time and resources to commit to policy networks in the face of daily demands for service provision? These are real challenges, but peer-to peer learning offers a solution to some of these issues at least.
The three ‘pillars’ of the new portico platform I described at the top of this essay are a good basis for any functioning knowledge eco-system. An accessible knowledge repository, a guide to the main ‘players’ in urban policy development, and growing a community for policy exchange and meet-ups constitutes a sound addition to the emerging eco-system for city learning.