Cork Learning City is pleased to announce that it will be presenting as one of the City Showcase presentations at the PASCAL Glasgow conference. Cork’s progression as a Learning City in recent years can be traced back to the 2002 City Development Board’s 10 Year Plan ‘Imagine our Future’ and the selection of ‘Cork as Learning City’ as one of just 7 overarching goals in that plan. Our presentation will focus on the milestones in the development of our Learning City thinking, engagement with citizens and governance since then.

At the heart of the presentation will be the key factor in this development - the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, run annually since 2004, and the part it has played in involving citizens, communities and a wide range of agencies across all sectors in the Learning City agenda. By 2012 the success and growth of the Festival had  created the conditions for linking with PASCAL to take an EcCoWeLL approach to Learning City development, and this successfully connected the Festival Organising Committee with the City Council Economic Directorate and leaders from the Health, Environmental and Cultural Sectors.  

The presentation will include a reflection on recent milestones including the award given by UNESCO in 2015 as one of the 12 case study cities featured in their publication ‘Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities’ and on the most recent development - the co-creation by our working group GLLiC (Growing Lifelong Learning in Cork) of two Learning Neighbourhood Pilots in disadvantaged communities. Cork’s delegation will include leaders in this Learning Neighbourhood initiative and it is hoped that our story may offer some lessons, comparisons and encouragement for Learning City strategies in cities of a similar size.

It is also hoped that new connections can be made with cities that have similar interests as a way to advance our PASCAL EcCoWeLL Learning City network intentions.