Reports from the 12th PASCAL International Conference – Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers

Summary reports from the 12^th PASCAL International Conference – Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers- hosted by the Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.  7-9 October 2015.

The following materials were compiled from submissions by Leone Wheeler, Roberta Piazza and Mike Osborne...

The 12^th PASCAL International Conference was held from 7-9 October at the University of Catania, where delegates enjoyed the excellent hospitality and services offered by the university, the city of Catania and the Officine Culturali for which we express our sincere thanks.

The opening address by Professor Piyushimita Thakuriah, University of Glasgow, focused on new modes of governance and operations in cities being enabled by Big Data. Increasingly, data is necessary to understand and address many complex challenges facing cities cannot be found in traditional survey programs or data systems.

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The response keynote from Professor Giuseppe Ronsisvalle concerning the future of universities in Italy was received very warmly by participants, given the very amusing reflections that were made of the current situation in Italian universities.

The opening keynote on Day 2 was provided by Dr Larry Swanson, University of Montana on Mapping and assessing real regions as they exist in economic and geographic space. To me this was a fine example of how an economist could provide understandable data and information to regional development planners in a timely fashion and in a way that met their needs!  As Dr Swanson said “There are real places and these places matter, they are where the lives of people and their families are largely lived and experienced.”

A further keynote on Day 2 was presented by Professor Paolo Federighi of the University of Florence and concerned the future of work and of learning, focusing on how to improve learning opportunities via public policies and private interventions at local, regional, national, transnational levels. The day also included an interview by Professor Budd Hall of the University of Victoria with Professor Francesca Longo, University of Catania, about Migration – Italy’s Crisis and Europe’s Shame? This was followed by a panel discussion, which included Karwan Jaafar Abdulrahman and Haithem Taha from Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan, Piero Giglio of the S. Egidio Association, which supports refugees, and a refugee, Kamran Sultan, who gave a very eloquent account of the challenges he and others face. Professor Longo noted that Catania started as a Greek colony and that the University of Catania was founded by the Spanish. However, today migrants who come to the city are the new lower class. They live in disadvantaged areas of the city where unemployment is dominant. For Europe it is a cultural crisis. It will be important to educate people to become more multi-cultural. In Duhok, a city with very little infrastructure, the challenge is how to supply food, education and housing to the influx of 800,000 people, which has doubled its population. A point was made that migration is a social phenomenon not a crisis. What is the role of the university? How can academics, students and scholars help? How can university space be used more effectively?

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On Day 3 Professor Francisco Javier Carrillo Gamboa, Tec de Monterrey, Mexico presented on Knowledge Markets and Social Entrepreneurship. Professor Gamboa started with the question “Does our human species, our civilization have a viable future? Will our children and grandchildren have better life opportunities that their parents and grandparents? He then talked about new forms of organizing human activity systems that are sprouting all over the world. These are young, self-organized, agile, frugal and based on trust. Knowledge markets are new value exchange modes based primordially on intangibles, that are transforming business startups, social innovation political action and cultural life. His opening questions were thought provoking and were left open for future conversations.

A final Panel discussion on The Future of Catania was held with Mr Paolo Patane, Deputy Director of CUNES (the network of UNESCO Heritage Cities in Sicily), Professor Mariarita Sgarlata, Former Regional Councillor for Culture and Environment and Jacopo Torrisi, representing the Regional Assessor for Labour. Each speaker talked from their perspective that is environmental, cultural and labour. Mr Patane reminded the audience that Sicily has the largest number of World Heritage sites in Europe. Surrounded by the Etna countryside the people have a sense of belonging to an exceptional environment. Professor Sgarlata said the complexity of the relationship with the ancient sites and monuments has never been easy. Sicilians must make the most of their environment and history. Our cultural heritage is the equivalent of “our diamonds, our petroleum and our gold.” The conservation and restoration of monuments is critical. This is difficult in times of economic downturn. Mr Torrisi said that through Public Private Partnerships progress had been made.  The conclusion was that Catania is prepared to be a learning city. The partnership between the University and the Municipality is strong and regeneration projects provide direction for the future.

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Parallel sessions were held according to the following five strands:

• Strand 1 Creating and securing local jobs for future regions
• Strand 2 The challenges of migration and multicultural societies
• Strand 3 Engaging communities and universities in the public good
• Strand 4 Sustainable and healthy city
• Strand 5: Cultural Engagement

Summaries of the strands are listed below:

Strand 1 Creating and securing local jobs for future regions chaired by Professor Dermot Coughlan, University of Limerick.

Participants were invited to submit papers that focused on the nature of work and employment in the next few decades, and in particular how the challenges of the future will be addressed. One of the tensions discussed was how do you secure jobs in an insecure environment? Jobs for life have disappeared. University partnerships with employers continue to be important.  The discussion focused on creating and securing local jobs for the local region.  A case study from Helsinki demonstrated what a well-developed society and the city could achieve.  Another case study from Southern Queensland provided a regional perspective on the effects of cuts in local jobs and resultant tensions.  The development of the city, the importance of connectivity and social engagement with the third sector were also discussed.

Strand 2 The challenges of migration and multicultural societies was chaired by Dr Lesley Doyle from the University of Glasgow.  The strand focused on:

• How populations can build sustainable economies on existing strengths and resources
• The challenges of new immigrant populations

In the summary Dr Doyle highlighted the following ideas from presenters. It is recognized that mass migration is a global phenomenon, yet people do not want to leave their homeland. In these times, cities need adaptive leaders. Cities must embrace intercultural ideas. We were reminded to think of the “heart” of the city, not only the “smart” of the city.  Return to the notion of common educational values that uphold right against oppression. Incorporate social enterprise development and social inclusion. Universities have an important role to play.

Delegates were also able to visit a local refugee centre. A young refugee migrant challenged the delegates by asking “can you tell me about what is being done by universities and other leaders to put an end to the number of wars in Africa so that we do not have to leave?”

Strand 3 Engaging communities and universities in the public good chaired by Professor Budd Hall, in partnership with Professor Chris Duke.

There were many presentations on university-community engagement, but Professor Hall summed them up with three key points:

• The centrality of values-driven/values-based decision making. Universities should not just focus on technical fixes.
• Our universities and the Higher Education system require radical transformation. Universities no longer have intellectual control of knowledge. We need to rethink who is the learner, who is the knower and who is the community member.
• Please get rid of the term “third mission”. Relegate this term to the margins. With transformational change community-university engagement should be a first mission.

Strand 4 Sustainable and healthy city development chaired by Dr Patrician Inman from Northern Illinois University

Place can provide a focus for curriculum development and more. It is not as daunting as it seems. Dr Inman also talked about the need to transform Higher Education to include formal, informal and networks of learning.  It is important to accept complexity and find ways to study it. Education exists in a cultural context. For example, is it realistic to compare those countries that have high mathematics and English scores with those that also spend additional money on special needs education? You have to accept the complexities of place. Also ensure collaboration and finally provide a regional narrative.

Strand 5: Cultural Engagement chaired by Professor Darlene Clover, University of Victoria.

The first point Professor Clover made was that the arts community was placed in a difficult position when politicians, in times of austerity, came out with the stock phrase “you cannot eat culture.” This kind of statement dismisses culture as frivolity and makes it hard to argue the wealth creation benefits of the arts. There are tensions even in the use of terms, for example, learning versus education, laissez-faire versus pedagogical milieu. This is real life, not economic policy. 

We are not where we need to be intentionally or methodologically. There are other tensions, for example, the level of social responsiveness of our arts and cultural institutions and their ability to represent the various actors – social, gender, cultures and strugglers for change. We need to expand what we understand by culture and so as to include not just monuments and spaces, but also, for example, street food, dance, etc. Who decides the culture and heritage of a people? This field is never static. The universities role is not to stay in silos but to become more interdisciplinary.

In conclusion, never forget the power of art and its integration in our lives, not solely as pleasure, but as fundamental to who we are and how we co-create the world. Never underestimate the creativity, value, passion and the sense of wonder of the didactic educators who devote their lives to beauty, human dignity and culture.

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Additional features to enhance the themes:

Professor Budd Hall launched the book Strengthening community-university research partnerships: Global perspectives. Information about the launch is here and you can download a free copy.

Professor Josef Konvitz, Chair of PASCAL provided participants with a preview of his forthcoming book to be published by Manchester University Press - Cities in the Time of Crisis. 

Professor Laura Vazquex, Northern Illinois University delighted us with the Film Premiere of Think Globally/Eat Locally. This is the story of DeKalb County, Illinois’ community-led efforts to address the desire to increase the production and distribution of locally grown foods.

Big Tent Declaration

What would a PASCAL conference be without a Big Tent Declaration? Professor Chris Duke spent some months collaborating with a large number of networks involved in university-community engagement on the Communique about Local Identities and Global Citizenship. Further information is available here.

Other important highlights of the conference:

Delegates were treated to the hospitality of the University of Catania and the City of Catania. The conference programs included a walking tour of the old city centre of Catania and a tour of the beautiful Benedictine Monastery which has the most fabulous underground library for use by all the university students. A welcome buffet dinner was held at Palazzo Platamone. The conference ended with an optional visit to the Etna Park.

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Please also see the 12th PASCAL Conference in Catania in photos! - more than 200 images...