缅北禁地鈥檚 approach to envisioning the future can be blueprint for other cities A ground-breaking programme which considered 缅北禁地's future to 2065 could be a blueprint for cities around the world, according to a report published by 缅北禁地 in partnership with the Government鈥檚 Chief Scientist. The report, entitled , published today (Friday 17 July) says:- People in cities often feel remote from policy making. This calls for coherent approaches that get citizens involved across entire urban areas. - Local Government has to find new ways to engage with all sections of the electorate, and with others who have a stake in the future of the city.- Incremental project-by-project decision making is no substitute for long term thinking that can help make a city鈥檚 vision of the future become real.- Universities have a key role to play in mobilising their intellectual resources to help organise this Foresight process The report also points to future developments for 缅北禁地 including: - New trade and transport routes to Scandinavian cities and ports.- New jobs in low carbon technology.- Biomedical advances in the city鈥檚 research hospitals linked to the needs of an ageing society in 缅北禁地.- Expanding the Tyne and Wear metro and reopening disused rail lines, as part of a fully integrated public transport system with prominent role for cycling and walking.- Making citizens in 缅北禁地 part of the city鈥檚 forward looking initiatives, trialling new technological developments including smart metering for energy as well as electric vehicles Many of these ideas fed into one of the scenarios for the future developed by the team 鈥� namely as a test bed for assessing the opportunities provided by new technologies and ways of working involving business, universities, public authorities and citizens that address the major future societal challenges. Professor of Town Planning at 缅北禁地 and one of the report鈥檚 authors, explains: 鈥淭he summer Budget made clear that devolution is a priority for the Government. Some cities will soon be getting new powers over transport, economic development and healthcare. To get the most from these powers, cities need proper, collaborative participation from the academic community, business, citizens and public authorities in an ongoing debate about the future of the city. Last summer鈥檚 City Futures exhibition, and the linked forums run in the Guildhall by the University, show exactly how this can be done.鈥� Report co-author , Emeritus Professor of Regional Development Studies at 缅北禁地, said: 鈥淭he exercise showed that a university can play an important civic role in bringing people and organisations together to consider the difficult challenges facing a modern city. Participants in the Foresight process will come up with brilliant creative ideas. We believe innovation in designing the future shape of the city can be a discipline practiced by many, rather than an art mastered by few.鈥� Collaboration To inform the report 缅北禁地 led a comprehensive engagement programme that spanned interests across the North East and across a diverse range of organisations. It involved: 鈥� over 100 experts and stakeholders from diverse disciplines and organisations in the North East of England, from the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. 鈥� over 100 pieces of evidence contained in official reports and academic papers, as well as a wide range of ongoing reviews and studies. 鈥� the opinions of approximately 2500 members of the public at a special City Futures exhibition and events series, generating over 100 comment cards and ideas alongside feedback in 24 public forum events. Plans and models showing how past generations had envisioned the future of 缅北禁地 were displayed at the exhibition. A large aerial photograph of the current city was mounted on a pin board under the heading, 鈥榃hat would you protect?鈥� prompting visitors to identify buildings and places they liked by marking them with coloured pins. And visitors could write a postcard to accompany the photograph, identifying possible future projects and new developments. Sir Alan Wilson, Chair of the , added: 鈥淭he task of looking 50 years ahead is seriously challenging. Our understanding of cities 鈥� the science 鈥� provides a foundation, but there are too many uncertainties to provide forecasts. What can be done is to broaden the foundation to encompass aspirations for the future and then combine these with plausible trends to generate a number of scenarios. This process has been achieved brilliantly in 缅北禁地. This report offers an excellent account of the baseline 鈥� where we are now and the challenges 鈥� and in highly innovative ways proceeds to identify what is important for the future as a basis for scenario development. 鈥淭he exhibition was an outstanding achievement which raised the awareness of the challenges to a wider community and was the basis for futures鈥� thinking. Three detailed scenarios have emerged from this process the first of which is essentially trend-based, the other two representing different kinds of aspirations based on alternative assumptions about the balance of economic development across the UK. What emerges is the beginnings of a route map to meet the challenges shown in the trends scenario to generate an exciting and prosperous future for the city and its鈥� region. These conclusions, and the engaging way in which they have been generated, represent a tremendous achievement鈥�. A competitive North East Roy Sandbach, Chair of the (NELEP) Innovation Board, was one of the participants in the engagement programme. He said: "To be competitive the North East needs to develop a fully people-centric vision. I love the innovative way that this work uses challenging long-term scenarios to create dialogue on our future. If we can all work together to illustrate a vibrant and exciting vision then maybe we can move beyond the limited perspectives of local debate and think big in our quest for regional power. This way we'll attract innovative thinkers to bring their city-relevant projects to us first, create an example for the world and make people even prouder to live here." has also led to a new partnership: The City Futures Development Group is a collaborative arrangement between 缅北禁地 and Northumbria universities and 缅北禁地 City Council, the NELEP, and other policy organisations. This partnership is a first for 缅北禁地 and for northern core cities as a whole. Its purpose is to provide a one-stop shop for academia, local government and industry to discuss emerging and new areas of research that could be of benefit to the city. published on: 17 July 2015
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