That was the question. ENTP, the European New Town Platform, asked Hans Karssenberg of Stipo Consult, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer of Mediamatic, and Jeroen Laven and David O'Connor of Erasmuspc and Urban Design Ireland to help them answer this question.
Participants
The CoP Training participants were:
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from Stevenage: Elison Cook and Elizabeth Clark
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from Sabadell: María García-Bustelo
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from Zoetermeer: Ad Huntelaar
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from Almere: Marcel Stolk, Remco Bleeker and Sharon Matsari
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from ENTP: Pascaline Gaborit and Marie-Violaine Polonowski
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trainer: Hans Karssenberg of Stipo Consult
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guest speakers: Klaas Kuitenbrouwer of Mediamatic, Jeroen Laven and David O’Connor, two of the founding fathers of the Erasmuspc network.
Speech Hans Karssenberg, Stipo
After a warm welcome of Marcel Stolk from Almere, Hans Karssenberg opened the training: "Invent the wheel or find it?"
Downloads:
- his illustrated speech on the five preconditions of successful CoPs (in PDF)
- his Power Point presentation (in PDF)
Speech Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Mediamatic
Klaas Kuitenbrouwer gave his introduction: "What brings people together?"
Downloads:
- his speech on what brings people together (in PDF)
- his Power Point presentation (in PDF).
Speech Jeroen Laven and David O'Connor, ErasmusPC/Urban Design Ireland
The 'trainees' had several working sessions to work on their Action Plan. After lunch, Jeroen Laven and David O'Connor of ErasmusPC and Urban Design Ireland told about passion as a driving force behind CoP's.
Downloads:
- their illustrated speech on passion, and the do's and dont's of early CoPs (in PDF)
- their Power Point presentation (in PDF).
Working session
After the last introduction, the New Towns had an other working session and then presented their ideas over dinner. An inspiring day with a meaningful discussion at the end. The 'cheerleaders' will present their Action Plans at the General Assembly of the ENTP in June 2006.
Background information
The European New Town Platform (ENTP) is the international exchange network of New Towns in Europe. It is a network of 25 members and 8 partners from 10 European countries.ErasmusPC member Hans Karssenberg of Stipo advised the ENTP to start Communities of Practice on specific themes, in order to make their learning exchange more direct. As a result, ENTP recently started COPs on 8 themes. On 21 April 2006 Stipo and ENTP chair Almere organised a succesful training for the COPs’ cheerleaders and participants. Subject: what are a successful COPs’ conditions? One of the coming days, the presentation of Jeroen Laven and David O'Connor of ErasmusPC will be present on this site. Some background info on the workshop.
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The broken economic life cycle - Filling in the gap between the garage and office building for further economic growth within New Towns. Creating spaces and platforms for the creative class.
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The identity gap - Developing an urban regeneration approach which creates more identity and civic pride within New Towns. This requires a guiding course that connects many smaller and larger interventions. New Towns need more icons. These can be buildings, sites, or even resident celebrities, all of which can contribute to a stronger, more diverse image. Get a better understanding of and approach to the ‘architectural heritage of tomorrow’. Use these elements to improve the image with the outside world.
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Have a heart - Continually developing the heart as a development in its own right, but also involving the surrounding residential areas, trying to create a ‘breathing zone’. Specialising centres and sub-centres, and keeping up the infrastructure leading to the centre(s).
Read more
- the programme of the COP-training
- the ENTP on their website: http://www.newtowns.net/
- the specific urban regeneration challenges that New Towns face, a report that Stipo made earlier
- about the COPs of ENTP
- about Stipo on their website
- Klaas Kuitenbrouwer’s Mediamatic for new media on their website.