Public opinion: Your blogs

A different perspective

What makes a great place? Go to Dubai or any of the other fantasy developments of recent years and you might imagine it's soaring buildings, luxury facilities and a wash of celebrity culture. The faulty foundations of that dream are all too evident now.

Go to some of our historic European cities and you might put it down to café culture, gorgeous architecture and the ability to get from one place to another on foot without putting your life at risk.

Walk around an ordinary British city and you might have to work harder to identify what makes a place great. You might have to start slowing down and talking to people on the streets or buses; you might have to start noticing the details of streets and buildings and observing what makes people feel proud or apoplectic, what makes them stay or hurry away.

If you spend most of your working life sitting in an office block, you don't tend to notice these things. Bradford Council's Regeneration Academy (with the help of Integreat Yorkshire) is trying to change that, getting staff in the authority's regeneration department away from their desks, interacting with colleagues and seeing life from a different perspective. That may not sound a big deal, but in local government it's radical: nobody else is seeking to do it on this scale, with 500 people learning about placemaking, leadership and project management.

Culture change takes time. So far just over 50 people have been through the course. Another 300 are likely to do so in the coming year.

Yesterday two of the first cohort of learners talked about their experiences. Back in May they'd explained what they were hoping to gain from the Academy; now they had a chance to say how they'd found it.

Roger Richardson, a highways engineer, said he'd hoped the Academy would 'broaden my horizons beyond the minor highway schemes that had been my lot for the past few years'. At first, he said, he found the discussions of skills and personal development frustrating - 'there seemed to be an awful lot of jargon and not a lot of certainty about where we were going, but it was worth persevering.'

But after visits to Saxton Gardens in Leeds and Saltaire, he was an enthusiast - 'you can learn as much in a site visit as you can in a dozen lectures'.

'It made me aware of the vast number of elements that have to go into successful placemaking,' he added. 'It made me aware of the coordination and the interconnectivity that need to exist between those of many disciplines who seek to provide great places - and also not just between the providers but between those who are providing and those who would live and work in these places.'

Craig McHugh, world heritage officer at Saltaire, attended the project management modules. He described the learning as relevant and fun - and particularly valued the chance to learn from colleagues about issues such as managing major projects.

'Mark Clayton's talk on understanding Bradford was really excellent,' he added. 'I could see that he was inspired by Bradford's history in his work in the economic development team, to help Bradford rediscover its pride and its economic purpose, and I found that fascinating.'

His tip to new learners? 'If you learn a few useful things or meet a few colleagues from other teams that you can give some advice or ideas to or work with on future projects, then you'll get back that time you've invested in the training sessions with interest.'

That may be obvious to many. But it's astonishing how many organisations - in the private sector as well as public agencies - see training and learning as a cost and a burden. To start creating a learning culture is no mean feat. It will be fascinating to see how many councils follow Bradford's lead.