The Academy Congress Provocation 2 Jobs

8/3/2019 The Academy Congress Provocation 2 Jobs

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ACADEMY OF URBANISM

CONGRESS VI, Glasgow 2011

Provocation Paper 2:

Jobs

Prepared by A+DS


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The Cities Outlook 2011, published by the Centre or Cities, paints a

troubling picture o the UKs economic geography. Looking at the 64

biggest cities and towns o the UK, the image arises o an ever clearer

divide in ortunes between the UKs high-value knowledge economy (e.g.,

Brighton, Cambridge, Edinburgh) and those post-industrial or otherwise

marginalised places where structural decline or at growth may be the norm

or a long time to come (e.g., Burnley, Stoke-on-Trent, Doncaster, Hull and

Newport). The ongoing recession seems to have only exacerbated uneven

geographical development. Whilst the country as a whole may bounce out

o recession soon, this may not be true at all or places in the post industrial

and marginalised category. For some, the evidence suggests that in theseplaces, a Great Depression seems underway.

The Cities Outlook is particularly concerned about vulnerabilities stemming

rom reliance on the public sector as jobs engine. It is also concerned

about the deeply engrained tendency to rely on high-profle physical

regeneration to put cities on a dierent path. These actors will be prone

to public unding cuts. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that

deeply rooted path dependencies shape the economic prospects o

places, and that turning these around is very difcult. Or near-impossible,

as was suggested in the controversial 2007 report rom the ree market

think tank Policy Exchange. It is clear that path dependencies matter more

than location per se, but that pathways can be inuenced. Its not alwaysa deterministic story. The problem is that physical regeneration has done

little to address this, as it oten ails to have a structural impact. This is

necessarily related to local institutional capacity, local place culture and

local enterprise. Factors such as these are likely to be the driving orce o

change as internal growth capacity may be more important when large

scale unding rom external sources gets scarcer. This requires whole place

thinking, new ways o thinking and doing. It requires a new approach to

innovation, experimentation in the making and management o the spaces

o our places.

Growth rom within inevitably means smarter use o the resources we

already have to deliver better outcomes, better opportunities, greater

choice. Innovation is key. Human capital is key. Creative use o existing

buildings, space and assets is key. Growing the conditions or innovation

to ourish as a cultural aspect o all decisionmaking is central to smarter

economies. This is likely to be enabled by new orms o networking. Tim

Frothy papers that announce the death of distance or the dominance of global

networks and the need to move beyond thinking about place are as unhelpful as those

that see neighbourhoods as closed systems of unending borrowing of cups of sugar and

other forms of mutual support. Better place polices would start from knowing the nature

of the places where investment and change is planned

Proximity to the school gate is no longer enough to get a job

Professor Duncan McLennan

ACADEMY OF URBANISM CONGRESS VI, Glasgow 2011

Provocation Paper 2: Jobs


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Brown, CEO o IDEO suggests that that participation is key to the next

big wave o innovation in business and society. Participation can be

understood in terms o the process o creating ideas collectively using the

knowledge, skills and creativity o people. Collaboration can be understood

in terms o those with the power to eect change translating these ideas

into valuable processes, products and services to achieve economies o

beneft [ie there is more to gain by doing it together]. Perhaps these are two

o the key capacities to develop at the level o local institutions to enable

places to develop as modern spaces o enterprise and innovation.

Re-thinking the planning of places?

Increasingly, it is agreed that you cannot defne and design neighbourhoods

through zoning alone. However, you can provide the catalysts to stimulate

them; creating the conditions in which they can emerge as distinctive

and characterul places. As part o the 10x10x10 series acilitated by the

Academy o Urbanism, Proessor John Worthington defned placemaking

.as a combination o organisational [behaviourial] and spatial [physical]

actions over time, spanning masterplanning and economic development

planning. The emphasis on both behaviours and space is important.

In seeking to build better places, we should seek to better understand

the behaviours and motivations o the individuals and communities

that colonise spaces. What are the emerging behaviours o innovators,

entrepreneurs, organisations and communities o work? What needs and

demands might these behaviours place on the built environment as a

physical resource, and the institutions that govern and manage place as an

enabling resource?

In seeking to develop growth rom within places, policymakers as agents

o change can have a tendency to divide out the economic drivers o

productivity, skills, investment, competition, as separate silos. In this

context, the interest in place based public investment is sometimes about

specifc benefts, specifc targets met, specifc outputs. The emphasis

moves towards efciency and management, not creativity, leadership,learning, thinking and doing. A consequence o this approach to public

policy and investment is sometimes not the growth o local institutions

and capacities that make places resilient, but rather service redistribution.

This orm o place policy sometimes tends to ocuses on decline and

disadvantage rather than development.

What then does place policy mean? It does not have to be ocused on

redistribution. It may not be simply about bending mainstream programmes.

Rather it may be about mending the capabilities o local institutions and

individuals to beneft rom the mainstream ow o opportunities and policies

in society. This is about enabling conditions or growth as well as renewal.

Place management in that sense embraces service delivery, regulation(especially land use planning and spatial development plans), tax policies

and also the investment programmes o local and national governments

and their private and non-proft partners. The process o creating these

policies matters. I this process is about participation and collaboration,



Growing theconditionsor innovation

to ourish as a

cultural aspect o

all decisionmakingis central to smarter

economies


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and a creative use o people and space, then strategic design thinking,

understanding the architecture o problems and matching this to the art o

the possible creates new potentials.

Innovation as a basis for building capacity, collectively

Starting local, growth and development will not be just about ast growing

creative and other industries. It will also be about the outlook and values

o a place tolerant, exible, and irreverent which make places good

collaborators, adept problem solvers, open to ideas and willing to think

aresh; in short design thinking.

It is important to be clear about the nature o the innovation we mean.

Innovation rarely proceeds down an orderly unnel rom bofn to consumer.

Innovation oten involves changes to institutional, business organisation

and consumer behaviour as much as science and technology. Frequently,

innovation is highly networked and interactive, involving a wide range o

players, not least the ultimate consumers o products and services. On this

basis, what is required is to recognise that innovation will come rom many

sources. It will embrace social innovation, technical innovation, business

innovation, all the elements needed to create what Will Hutton describes

as an innovation eco system. Hutton argues that uture success is aboutdeliberately and sel consciously constructing this eco system, to inorm all

that we do.

To create the innovation eco system, we need new approaches to

thinking and doing, individually, collectively and institutionally or the rip,

mix, burn generation that throngs to MySpace. This is the generation that

spontaneously sets up blogs, adds content and character to the computer

games it plays and uses Garage Band and Sibelius to create its own

music. The YouTube tribe does not just want to listen and watch culture

wherever and whenever it wants; it also wants to create and distribute it.

The Google generation increasingly seeks out knowledge and ideas rom

wherever they come. The generation that grew up with MSN Messengerand social networking, is instinctively at home working creatively and

collaboratively together in teams. This all has implications or the way in

which we make and manage spaces, and the way we enable behaviours

and cultural development in our places.

Authenticity

A review o the winners o the Academy o Urbanism awards or great

places suggests two common themes. First, is an authentic story that

transcends everything in the city. The second is authentic leadership, a

stewarding o resources that is recogniseably motivated by enhancingpeople and place. These conditions stimulate the art o the possible. The

same conditions seem necessary to eective innovation. The innovation

story must be about the art o the possible. An innovation eco system

should aim to become a society o adapters, contributors, participants



Smarter growth...will also be aboutthe outlook and

values o a place

tolerant, exible, and

irreverent whichmake places good

collaborators, adept

problem solvers,

open to ideas and

willing to think

aresh; in shortdesign thinking.


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and designers, with people having their say, making a contribution

(oten in small ways) to add to the accumulation o ideas and innovation.

Participation and contribution should be the watchwords o such a society,

rather than mere consumerism. A society o mass innovation oers access

to a deeper story about possibility and sel-expression that will distinguish

us rom many societies around the world. Ultimately, people achieve

happiness not just through consumer choice but through a deeper sense

o fnding how to express themselves through creative work: Innovation by

the community, not just or them. The outcome is a learning place, smarter

places, enhanced capacities to drive change.

Scaling

The innovation based view o building capacity suggests that strategies

that are participatory and ocus on livelihood, opening up opportunities and

encouraging innovation are more likely to succeed than those which take a

mechanistic, regulatory approach to discouraging unwanted behaviour. The

challenge or this approach is how to scale up a locally driven approach

to deliver at a wider scale a challenge addressed by NESTA in its recent

report Mass Localism. This report suggests that Government can learn

rom a broader trend evident across the wider economy, culture and

society that o fnding distributed answers to problems and deliveringsolutions with citizens. This represents a shit rom mass production to

distributed production. It is an open source approach based on trust, and

on the positive eedback loop experienced by orward-thinking businesses

that are opening up their R&D processes to their suppliers and customers.

Clearly, local capacity to act goes beyond the public sector. The experience

with some o the best Development Trusts, regeneration legacy vehicles

and community-based initiatives has shown the potential o local area-

asset based organisations to provide long-term support and generate

innovation around local needs. I sufciently resourced and embedded in

the locality their permanent presence and independence can enable the

thick institutional networks and responsible risk-taking which are required

or successul growth. This is a chance to drive enterprise and local

wellbeing through a mix o interventions. A people-driven and distributed

approach to culture which relies less on capital investment and more on

support or creativity and education is integral to this. In eect, it is this type

o approach which can grow new pathways that many places need.

Innovation, places and work

Where is it that innovation might bring us in economic terms? Bruce Katz

suggests a vision or cities that will be innovation-led, export-led, and low-

carbon. It envisages that cities will be making things rather than services,with any orm o change driven by innovation and entrepreneurship. This he

suggests will be a key element o the regional economy around cities.

Typically, the regional economy is understood as having our elements: its



Governmentcan learn roma broader trend

evident across the

wider economy,

culture and society that o fnding

distributed answers

to problems and

delivering solutions

with citizens.


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size, its industrial structure (what does the City actually do or a living), its

labour market structure (how will the workorce behave), and its balance

(manuacturing/service; public/private; geographical). Futurologists

suggest that a uture export led regional economy might be inormed by the

ollowing trends in industrial structure and labour orce:

[i] Regarding industrial structure, the technology oresight literature identifes

six growth opportunities:

A21stCenturyManufacturingRevolution:notmorejobsbutgrowth

through bespoke manuacturing-on-demand & servicisation

SmartInfrastructure;instrumentationtosupportmicrogeneration,

electric vehicle recharging, smart metering

SecondInternetRevolution

EnergyTransformation:renewableenergygeneration,batteriesand

uel cells

Newmaterialsforlowcarbonfuture:buildingmaterials,nano

materials

RegenerativeMedicine:stemcellproducts

[ii] In terms o the labour market, it is clear that work patterns are already

changing. The labour market may play out in a number o ways but

these scenarios may orm part o the uture labour landscape in 20

years:

Increasingnumbersofself-employedandmicro-business

Increasingmovetowardsnomadicworkstyleofknowledgeworkers:

o time in traditional corporate ofce, working at home and working

rom 3rd places such as caes, libraries, open space, resulting

in a potentially a huge demand or semi-public spaces that can be

inormally appropriated to ad hoc workspace

MovetowardsFlexibleWorkingContactsnewemploymentmodel

whereby the core permanent sta is much smaller and greater

number o reelance, consultants, temporary workers; more people

working on contract rather than employed

Fourdifferentgenerationswithdifferentmotivationsandexpectations

o work. Generation Y (born in mini baby boom 1979 94) to the 1st

generation o digital natives

The idea o an export led economy does not necessarily imply reliance on

inward investment alone. Neither does it necessarily imply an economywhose sole purpose is export. From the 1950s on, regional scientists

posited that industrial structure was a key determinant o the perormance

and prospects or a regional economy. By the 1980s, a rich literature and

practice counseled planners to think strategically about their comparative



Increasing movetowards nomadicworkstyle o knowledge

workers: o time in

traditional corporate

ofce, working at home

and working rom 3rd

places such as caes,

libraries, open space,

resulting in a potentially

a huge demand or semi-

public spaces that can be

inormally appropriated to

ad hoc workspace


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What are the emerging

behaviours of innovators,

organisations and

communities of work?


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advantages and intervene in particular sectors, reerred to as targeting. In

place o generic attraction strategies or eorts to improve the local business

climate, planners began to husband their resources and nurture particular

sectors that showed greater promise in terms o longevity, good jobs and

diversifcation. While we have no defnitive body o empirical work on

the outcomes o industrial targeting, it is airly clear that such eorts have

ranged rom highly successul to abysmal ailures.

Ann Markusen argues that industrial targeting eorts oten disappoint

their purveyors because they ocus on frms, the individual members

o an industry, as the central agents o economic development. Mobileinvestment when it does come does not always stay. When it stays

it does not always embed in the local context to stimulate additional

economic development. In this context, Markusen argues that stimulating

the conditions or local economic development are important. Her

argument suggests that there should be as much ocus on occupations,

or human capital, or the capacities at local level, what people can do, as

industrial targeting. Key occupations are not confned to highly educated

proessionals but may encompass immigrants skilled in trading connections

and knowledge o local markets, skilled workers and artisans, energetic and

smart community activists, among others.

Markusen suggests seven reasons why a ocus on occupations may be amore appropriate basis or understanding and designing the conditions or

more resilient economic utures:

First,theabilitytospecializeandexportisbaseddeeplyontalents

and synergy in the local economy. These may be better understood

and tapped by identiying skill sets and talents embedded in

occupations in addition to researching frms and industries.

Although frms still decide where to locate and whether to hire or

retain workers, the quality o workers is oten key to their choices.

Furthermore, new frms are oten ounded by members o key

occupations. Second,developmentisincreasinglylesslinkedtonaturalresource

endowments, once thought to govern a localitys specialization,

and more heavily reliant on human capital. As a key input, labour is

undamentally dierent rom natural resources in that it is relatively

mobile, i less so than fnancial capital. Mobile labour is drawn to

particular natural environments, but in a new and ascinating way

workers with choice opt or livable environments rather than

exploited ones. A much greater priority is now placed on protecting

environmental assets rather than spending them down.

Third,jobcommitmentonthepartofbothworkersandemployershas waned. Firms are less willing to train workers or internal job

ladders, because this is an expensive process. Firms are thus

increasingly dependent on regional labour pools, and training is

becoming increasingly externalized in regional institutions. Such



The ability tospecialise andexport is based

deeply on talents

and synergy in the

local economy


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training is best organized by occupation.

Fourth,thereisnowgreatercross-overofskillsamongindustries

than is suggested by the stereotype o labourers on construction

sites or teachers working in school classrooms. Many clerical and

sales workers are employed by manuacturing frms, while many

engineers and construction workers work in the service sector. As

outsourcing and subcontracting prolierate, occupational talent is

shared even more liberally actors and directors create videos or

medical instrument companies, while sotware engineers program or

flm companies and arts organizations. Thus, occupations that mayappear to be local-serving are enhancing the productivity o other

export-oriented sectors in the local economy. Function, skill and

connections become more important than organization.

Fifth,thefast-pacedandexibleeconomyplacesapremiumonnew

frm ormation. Entrepreneurial activity may entail signifcant costs and

high rates o ailure but it may account or the emergence o new

local specializations and job growth. It is cumbersome to identiy

entrepreneurship potential by studying industries and much easier

to work with occupations. Certain occupations may show higher

rates o new frm ormation, cross-over with other sectors, and/or

maturation rom local-serving to exporting activities.

Sixth,thedigitalrevolutionhasmadeiteasiertoworkfromremote

job sites. Workers are more likely to be committed to the region and

neighbourhood than to the frm or industry and will search or livability,

amenities and lovability.

Seventh,plannersworkingtosteminnercitydeclineand/or

concerned with minority participation and jobs or underemployed

groups may fnd occupational groupings easier to distinguish and

target than industries. Designing economic development strategies

to specifcally redress socioeconomic imbalances is ar easier when

occupations (and individuals in them) are used as targets rather thanindustries (and the frms that populate them).

The implication o these principles is that placemaking needs to include

more about the human capital debate. This should include studying how

industries and occupations orm and operate. It should include discourse

about how state and local governments und and supply public services,

which kinds o spending have long term growth impacts, and how

consumers at dierent ages, locations, and levels o educational attainment

and wealth spend their incomes. The human capital and innovation stories

lend themselves to thinking about the creation o dierent communities, o

workers, o sponsors, o consumers. These communities will have greateror lesser ties to the local context, and enabling these communities to orm,

unction and collaborate has signifcant implications or the way in which

we produce and manage the spaces o our places. I every culture creates

spaces to enable their cultural view o the world to be supported, how



The humancapital andinnovation stories

lend themselves to

thinking about the

creation o dierentcommunities

o workers, o

sponsors, o

consumers


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might a networked idea o people and space work which acommodates

dierence and creates opportunity?

Neighbourhoods as places of work

Traditionally, property investment has generally ocused on the location,

identity and quality o individual buildings. It has tended to ocus less on the

contribution that the building and its occupants can make to the character

and economic health o the surrounding neighbourhood. However, there is

some emerging thinking that value or both the user (business value) and

investors (exchange value) are created by the quality and wellbeing o theneighbourhood and the building. This in turn could drive the potential to

create new public value in placemaking understood here as a combination

o organisational behaviour and spatial actions over time.

This line o argument importantly depends on a wide defnition o place,

beyond the purely physical. The emphasis on the experiential idea o space

has resonance within the best workspace projects, which consciously aim

to complement the oer o space with a series o processes ostering

collective social belonging and inhabitation to support the diverse needs o

its users. At a larger scale, questions are arising in regards o how changes

in work patterns are aecting ofce locations, with some papers ocusing

on CBD areas. Boundaries between public and private spaces are being

blurred and many corporate businesses are willing to share spaces in a

process o communalisation.

This process o communalisation is a developing behaviour not just within

organisations. It is a characteristic o innovation oriented communities,

entrepreneurs and a generation who have grown up as collaborators

across virtual and web based networks. It may be an important element

o the conditions necessary or local capacity building, dierent orms o

engagement with an by the institutions o place. It may be an important

element o the process o local, and meso economics underpinning frm

ormation in a place as described by Markusen. It may be that theseconditions are necessary to the ormation o the innovation eco system

described by Hutton, and the innovation led, export led, low carbon

export urban economy described by Katz. On this basis, the pattern

o communalisation may be expressed in a number o ways, spatially

in the organisation o workspaces, communities doing things together

similar sharing values; in the development o hackspaces and mobile

workspaces; fnancially and organisationally through the use o cloud

sourcing and open source communities and discourse. There are distinct

behaviours and rules that rame how these processes work. Undoubtedly,

these behaviour and culture will shape space. Understanding them, and

enabling them may orm a key element o uture neighbourhood planning.

Organizational expectations o ofce locations in terms o segmentation

and specialisation o activities are changing. How might these be met in

the urban context? I the tendency o communalisation o nearby public

and semi-public space within a neighbourhood is happening, what are the



communalisation...is a characteristico innovation oriented

communities,

entrepreneurs and

a generation whohave grown up as

collaborators across a

range o networks


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design, management, governance and tenure implications or investors,

building owners, users and the wider community? And more importantly:

how deeply embedded are such trends across a wide range o ofce

users? As 22% o the UK workorce works in low paid jobs, this includes

at least a sizable part o the ofce workorce. This should be a reminder

o the diversity within the sector, with dierent incentives and workspace

strategies at play.

This idea o dierence and diversity is an important element o the uture

o neighbourhood planning. Whereas the perceived wisdom in the 1970s

was comprehensive area development with the perect let to a blue chipclient, it may be that thinking more incrementally is a better way orward.

This creates a more messy environment, which permits a range o

behaviours and mix o uses. This mixing and diversity is an important part

o the enabling aspect o place, the condition which supports the creative

behaviours o a range o communities, entrepreneurs and investors. For

example, Industry in the City a report prepared by Urhahn Design or the

GLA identifed the opportunities and challenges o embedding spaces o

making and doing into the city abric, mixing these spaces with other uses

and amenities to create places where there are opportunities or a very

wide variety o economic use.

This changes the nature o spatial organisation rom concentrated todistributed. For this to work, what matters most is the character o the

neighbourhood, the opportunities, the exibility o spaces, the amenities,

the quality o lie. The development o this model, as a viable model or

modern urban development could result say in organisations saying

we dont need 1,000 people in one building, we can have little bits o

building and were going to then work within the city and have a distributed

organisation oten in a number o buildings within the same neighbourhood.

They question is how might this inorm neighbourhood planning as places

o work and living?

Initiatives rom the bottom up, transitional schemes, small, speedy, andtemporary may orm a basis or planning and development o these new

city spaces. For instance, Jan Gehls proposals or Broadway in Manhatten

are interesting. To give areas o the city back to the pedestrian they have

painted street suraces street, making it hal the width or cars put deck

chairs out and seen whether it works or not. It can be reinstated i it doesnt

work. But the point is i it sticks then it becomes part o planning. On this

basis, transitional schemes are based on the idea that the people who live

in urban areas can act as agents on behal o their communities, capable

o both remembering simple rules and generating a creative response

to them . A placemaking approach based on simple rules and enabling

mechanisms would ocus on open yet hierarchical urban networks, diversity

and exibility. This would work spatially rom the whole neighbourhood to

the building typology.



A placemakingapproachbased on simple

rules and enabling

mechanisms would

ocus on open yethierarchical urban

networks, diversity

and exibility


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Simple rules or better urbanism closely mirror those that acilitate emergent

systems in modern society, such as business and inormation technology.

They reect shared values and a social contract between the elected

and the electorate; one based on a more collaborative, we will, i you

will relationship between government and community. This involves a

willingness among civic leaders to be less concerned with establishing a

direction or the city and more involved with enabling, encouraging and

generating the best ideas. Increasingly we might see the transitional as an

alternative strategy to command and control planning. Are we going to see

the comprehensive and the incremental, the permenant and the temporary

working in parallel. Two dierent ways o doing things but both viable andneeded together, producing a new and perhaps more appropriate model

or regeneration. At the level o local institutions, this could orm the basis

o the Third Place, in between institutions which link private sector, public

sector and create spaces or innovation, enterprise and creativity. I this

institutional capacity is linked with exible, diverse use o space, then the

uture o neighbourhoods, towns and cities as new communities o work

may be transormational.

References

Investing in better places - http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/le/Investing%20in%20Better%20Places.pdf

Delivering Better Places - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/336587/0110158.pdf

AOU 10x10x10 Folkestone - http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/projects/10x/provocation_folkestone.pdf

AOU 10x10x10 Dublin - http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/projects/10x/provocation_dublin.pdf

AOU 10x10x10 Reading - http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/projects/10x/provocation_dublin.pdf

AOU 10x10x10 Bristol - http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/projects/10x/provocation_bristol.pdf

A+DS Learning towns - www.learningtowns.org

Ann Markusen meso economics - http://www.hhh.umn.edu/img/assets/6158/japa_ve1.pdfAnn Markusen Creative Placemaking - http://www.nea.gov/pub/pubDesign.php

Will Hutton Innovation eco system - http://www.buildingfutures.org.uk/projects/building-futures/debate-series-2010/this-house-believes-the-

road-to-recovery-is-paved-with/

Professor Stuart Gulliver - http://www.csft.org.uk/speaker_proles/professor_stuart_gulliver




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Architecture + Design Scotland (A+DS)is Scotlands champion for excellence inplacemaking, architecture & planning.

Architecture + Design ScotlandBakehouse Close, 146 Canongate,

Edinburgh EH8 8DD

T: 0131 556 6699F: 0131 556 [email protected]

www.ads.org.uk

The Academy of Urbanism is anautonomous, politically independent,cross-sector organisation formed in 2006

to expand urban discourse.

The Academy brings together a diversegroup of thinkers, decision-makersand practitioners involved in the social,cultural, economic, political and physicaldevelopment of our villages, towns andcities, and is an active membershiporganisation.

The Academy of Urbanism70 Cowcross StreetLondon EC1M 6EJ

T: +44 (0)20 7251 8777F: +44 (0)20 7251 [email protected]

www.academyofurbanism.org.uk

The Academy Congress Provocation 2 Jobs

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