Skills and knowledge for Sustainable Communities
Sustainable Communities - places where people want to live and work - have been part of the UK government’s agenda for the past decade, influencing the nature and focus of planning. Alongside this agenda, calls for greater community engagement in place-making? have made increasing demands of built environment professionals; skills which move beyond those that define each profession. In 2004 the Egan Review called their skills sets into question, suggesting that there were significant gaps, particularly in the ‘generic’ skills such as visioning, project management, leadership and communication. Much has changed in the subsequent years in both the expectations of planners, place making professions and planning practice.
Led Robert Rogerson along with Prof Anne Green (Warwick), Prof Cecilia Wong (Manchester) and Sue Sadler (Strathclyde), a research initiative into “Skills and Knowledge for Sustainable Communities” has been funded jointly by the ESRC and Homes & Communities Agency. Under this 'Venture Initiative, academics from planning, landscape architecture, urban design, surveying and architecture have been supported to engage in 11 projects across the UK to explore some of these changes and to identify what is working towards more sustainable communities.
Sustainable Communities - places where people want to live and work - have been part of the UK government’s agenda for the past decade, influencing the nature and focus of planning. Alongside this agenda, calls for greater community engagement in place-making? have made increasing demands of built environment professionals; skills which move beyond those that define each profession. In 2004 the Egan Review called their skills sets into question, suggesting that there were significant gaps, particularly in the ‘generic’ skills such as visioning, project management, leadership and communication. Much has changed in the subsequent years in both the expectations of planners, place making professions and planning practice.
Led Robert Rogerson along with Prof Anne Green (Warwick), Prof Cecilia Wong (Manchester) and Sue Sadler (Strathclyde), a research initiative into “Skills and Knowledge for Sustainable Communities” has been funded jointly by the ESRC and Homes & Communities Agency. Under this 'Venture Initiative, academics from planning, landscape architecture, urban design, surveying and architecture have been supported to engage in 11 projects across the UK to explore some of these changes and to identify what is working towards more sustainable communities.
The research was conducted between 2009 and 2011 and the research findings have been published in various academic journals, in policy and practice press and through engagement events with communities. Amongst these have been:
- a research initiative overview for policymakers
- a special issue of Town Planning Review
- an edited book (see below)
- case studies and projects reports (see separate pages)
The main research output:
The desire to create places which offer high quality of life and contribute to national and global sustainable development principles has emerged over the last few decades as a focus for government policy and community action. Drawing on inter-disciplinary research conducted across UK universities and with community-based groups, this book offers insights into how local initiatives can enhance sustainable development and engage people in creating better places in which to live. It illustrates imaginative, practical and accessible ways in which communities and built-environment professionals are working and learning together towards a more sustainable future. It shows how such learning can result in more inclusive and desirable places to live, both for the residents of today and for future generations. Drawing on the experiences of nine locally based examples from across the UK, it brings together elements of debates as diverse as sustainable development, education, community coherence and conflict resolution, planning and environmental management.
The book will be of value to all those who have a stake in the formation of communities, whether in professions such as architecture, urban design, planning or geography or who are involved through community and local organisations; it will contribute to the narrowing of the perceived sustainable communities 'skills gap'. The focus throughout is on the motivational aspects of learning and the different and often highly imaginative approaches which can be adopted to enable partnerships to work effectively. Topics include how groups, including young people and communities that are viewed as divided, can be engaged effectively through practices such as community planning and environmental volunteering as well as more innovative projects.
Information on purchase of the book can be found at University of Hertfordshire Press or via Amazon
The desire to create places which offer high quality of life and contribute to national and global sustainable development principles has emerged over the last few decades as a focus for government policy and community action. Drawing on inter-disciplinary research conducted across UK universities and with community-based groups, this book offers insights into how local initiatives can enhance sustainable development and engage people in creating better places in which to live. It illustrates imaginative, practical and accessible ways in which communities and built-environment professionals are working and learning together towards a more sustainable future. It shows how such learning can result in more inclusive and desirable places to live, both for the residents of today and for future generations. Drawing on the experiences of nine locally based examples from across the UK, it brings together elements of debates as diverse as sustainable development, education, community coherence and conflict resolution, planning and environmental management.
The book will be of value to all those who have a stake in the formation of communities, whether in professions such as architecture, urban design, planning or geography or who are involved through community and local organisations; it will contribute to the narrowing of the perceived sustainable communities 'skills gap'. The focus throughout is on the motivational aspects of learning and the different and often highly imaginative approaches which can be adopted to enable partnerships to work effectively. Topics include how groups, including young people and communities that are viewed as divided, can be engaged effectively through practices such as community planning and environmental volunteering as well as more innovative projects.
Information on purchase of the book can be found at University of Hertfordshire Press or via Amazon