Learning Cities

What are Learning Cities?

The concept of learning cities (or -regions, -communities, etc.) is gaining renewed traction today. The Coalition of Lifelong Learning Organizations (COLLO) takes inspiration from the definition developed by the Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL). According to UIL a learning city is:

...a city which effectively mobilizes its resources in every sector to promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education; revitalize learning in families and communities; facilitate learning for and in the workplace; extend the use of modern learning technologies, enhance quality and excellence in learning; and nurture a culture of learning throughout life (Valdés-Cotera, et al., 2015, p. 5).

More succinctly, authors of a 2021 paper elegantly distilled UIL’s definition of a learning city down to a single sentence: “UNESCO promotes learning cities and lifelong learning to assure sustainable resilience of community in a fast-changing world” (Teeranon, et al., 2021, p. 91).

This contemporary conceptualization is of great interest to COLLO, as it extends the notion of lifelong learning out into the physical and social spaces, framing the locality as an ecosystem learning interlinked globally with other such places. To lifelong learning, the Learning City concept adds life-wide (ubiquitous) and life-deep (transformative).

In collaboration with the Irish Network of Learning Cities and the North American Alliance of Learning Cities (NAALC), COLLO recently offered a series of four webinars on Learning Cities for adult educators and other interested stakeholders.

Notes

Teeranon, P., Phrueksawatnon, P., & Kaowiwattanakul, S. (2021). UNESCO Factors affecting building Phayao Learning City of Thailand: An opinion from the senior citizens. MFU Connexion: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(1), 91-103.

Valdés-Cotera, R., Longworth, N., Lunardon, K., Wang, M., Jo, S. & Crowe, S. (Eds). (2015). Unlocking the potential of urban communities: Case studies of twelve learning cities. UNESCO UIL. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000234536