Unit information: Learning and the City in 2016/17

Unit name	Learning and the City
Unit code	EDUCM0063
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Manchester
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

In 2012 the UN forecast that by 2050 two thirds of the world’s population would be living in cities, a shift from rural to urban living that will require rapid systemic and social adaptation. At the heart of this adaptation will be formal and informal sites of learning that enable citizens and communities to develop the skills, knowledge, ways of living and working that will be successful in this changing context. Such adaptation is taking place already in highly informal ways – for example, the improvisatory practices of slum dwellers living at the margins of global megacities – as well as in highly formalised and systematic ways – for example, the growth of the ‘Learning City’ movement that aims to network together all formal sites of education within the city.

This unit will explore the different ways that a city can be understood to be a ‘Learning City’ from the highly formalised to the highly improvised. It will combine theoretical and methodological resources from urban studies with the tools and concepts from educational theory to allow them to gain a strong purchase on the inter-relationship between learning and the city.

In particular, the unit will explore: 1. The history, political origins and contested concept of the Learning city from its roots in international NGOs to its contemporary highly diverse forms around the world 2. Informal learning in the city, from youth work to learning as ‘dwelling’, a mode of improvisation, practice and adaptation that constitutes communities’ adaptation to social, economic, material and technological conditions 3. The city as itself a learning organism, in particular the growth of the city’s capacity to learn about and feedback to citizens in the development of the Smart City movement 4. Learning as a resource for social and political change within cities, in particular the traditions of urban learning forums and participatory research.

The aims for this unit are:

• To introduce key theories relating to the inter-relationship between learning and the city;
• To provide students with an understanding of the diverse contemporary practices and politics that shape the concept of the Learning City in a global context;
• To provide students with conceptual and methodological tools to research learning in non formal settings in the city;
• To enable students to analyse and critique competing claims about the relationship between learning, educational change and urban development.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course unit students will be able to:

1. Critically assess theories relating to learning and the city;
2. Utilise a range of theories relating to urban studies and informal learning as a practice of improvisation and social action;
3. Utilize a range of methods to research different discourses and practices of learning in the city in sites ranging from policy settings to community practice;
4. Choose appropriate theories and put these theories to work in critically analyzing specific discourses and practices of the learning city;
5. Develop the team work and collaboration skills and the ability to negotiate ethical collaborative partnerships with city organisations;
6. Write coherent and critical reflections on personal and group learning activities.

Teaching Information

Teaching will adopt a blended approach involving a mix of face to face lectures with group work and activities provided on-line. Social media will also be used to support learning. Reflective practice is key to the teaching and learning experience – students will be asked to contribute to the class blog as part of ongoing reflective practice.

A core element of this course will be regular ‘on the ground’ experience in the city. There will be contributions from organisations and individuals developing the Bristol Learning City and leading informal learning opportunities in the city. There will be an expectation that students will develop close working partnerships with a series of informal learning settings and make a contribution to those sites.

Assessment Information

For this course unit students are required to submit two pieces of work which are assessed as follows:

Part 1: A weekly critical reflection via the course blog on the theories, concepts and methods introduced on the course and their application in a range of settings – at least 2000 words. Students will be given guidelines on blogging throughout the course and it will be made clear that students must go beyond description to critically reflect on their own learning and understanding throughout the course unit. The blog should reflect on a collective empirical experiment to promote public and participatory learning in the city that students will engage in during the unit (50%) (ILO 1, 3, 5 ,6)

Part 2: A 2000 word academic essay that draws in both urban theory and educational theory to critically examine an empirical example of learning in the city. Students will be expected to critically apply theories and concepts learnt on the course. (50%) (ILO 1, 2, 4)

Reading and References

Amin, A (2014) Lively Infrastructure , Theory Culture and Society, Vol 31 (7/8), 137-161 Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Harvey, D (2008) Right to the City, New Left Review Sept/Oct 2008

Longworth, N (2006) Learning Cities, Learning Regions, Learning Communities: Lifelong Learning and Local Government, London: Taylor and Francis

McFarlane, C (2011) The City as a Machine for Learning, Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 36 360-376

Osborne, M., Kearns, P., Yang, J (2013) Learning Cities: Developing Inclusive, Prosperous and Sustainable Urban Communities., Int. Rev. Educ 59: 409-423

Plumb, D., Leverman, A., mcGray, R (2007) The Learning City in a ‘Planet of Slums’, Studies in Continuing Education, V 29, No 1, pp 37-50

Thrift, N (2014) The ‘Sentient’ City and What it may portend, Big Data & Society, April-June 2014 1-24

Wainwright, H (2009) Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy, London: Seagull Press

Ward, C (1978/1990) The Child in the City, London: Bedford Square Press