This project is a first step for us. Our primary goal was to better understand how lifelong learning on a local level can be supported, using both the social (grassroot organizations and social structures that they are part of) and physical (public space) infrastructure of a city. From that, the longterm ambition is to support UNESCO's strive for a worldwide culture of lifelong learning. When understanding the interaction between the social (in research referred to as 'cité') and physical (named 'ville') structure of a city we wanted to define a framework that helps governments and local (grassroot) organizations to find ways to increase their impact on supporting lifelong learning. A framework that shows and explains this interaction allows us to define interventions to refine the interaction between ville and cité, thus improving employability of people with a distance to the labour market.
In both Hamburg and Rotterdam many organizations support the (lifelong) learning of individuals. Most of them focus on adult people and/ or youngsters with a distance to the labour market. However, the pure existence of all these organizations and places to learn seems not enough to trigger people to actively and durable support their up- or reskilling. This goes especially for people that are low educated. Research shows that part of the obstacles they experience relates to the position of personal development and learning in our culture. In several reports UNESCO therefore stresses the necessity to reposition lifelong learning in our culture. From our experience we see that grassroot organizations and initiatives are important accelerators for learning on a local level, which makes them relevant actors to support a shift towards, as UNESCO calls it, a 'culture of lifelong learning'. Another premise that we wanted to include is the impact of the physical infrastructure of a city, because research shows that the social (people and their structures) and physical city (buildings and infrastructure) strongly interact. We want to learn about the way interaction between local organizations and public space supports lifelong learning .