Programme

Wednesday 16th October 2019 

(Mistra Urban Futures delegation)

Manchester Field Trips and Workshops  

Venue: Chamber Space, Elliot House, 151 Deansgate Manchester, M3 3WD
And Venues Across Manchester
Time: 0730-2100

The departure point was outside the Leopold Hotel on Leopold Street, Sheffield S1 2GZ. (See map in your info package).
A short break with coffee and refreshments before we left for field-trips at 10:15.

Following an introduction and overview of the day, you were are offered a choice of one fieldtrip. 
 

Option 1 – Food 

What: Tasting urban (autumn) delights: the multiple functions of urban community gardens (with an apple theme)
A trip to Hulme Community Garden Centre, a former car park next to Manchester’s ‘Yellow Bricks’ housing cooperative. We will learn how the centre engages local communities in different kinds of gardening and food-related activities, providing a therapeutic and educational space for different kinds of people. 
Greater Manchester-based organisation Kindling Trust will also present their work to create a fairer and more sustainable food system for all. This includes the FarmStart programme providing access to training, land and markets; increased access to local and healthy food for all, through their co-operative distribution models; a social prescribing programme allowing doctors and other services to prescribe gardening, cooking and veg as a way to achieve physical and mental health improvements; and how they are going to scale all of this up through their community-owned agro-ecological farm for Manchester and beyond!  
It will be the height of apple harvest season in the UK, with Apple Day on 21st October, so we will identify different kinds of apples, taste them, and press some to juice. Visitors will also have an opportunity to taste British cider (contains alcohol: this is optional!).
Depending on people’s capacity (and the weather), we took transport one way and walked back (a 25-minute walk) to the conference venue, took some views of Manchester's canals on the way. 
Where: Hulme Community Garden Centre 
How: Walking Tour & Public Transport
Field trip leader: Charlie Spring (SMLIP)

Option 2 – Housing

What: From homes to assets: Housing financialisation in Greater Manchester, with Greater Manchester Housing Action. 
A walking tour around the issue of Manchester's booming property market. How can new developments serve the public? Manchester faces a crippling housing crisis, rising homelessness and widespread poverty, yet the skyline is changing rapidly. Massive wealth is pouring into the UK’s major cities, private investment and large-scale development projects are reshaping our urban centres, but who really benefits from this transformation? Developers, anonymous foreign investors and private landlords are reaping the rewards of an inflated market at the expense of the needs of the people living and working in the city. These organisations and individuals are shaping our city in their image. Join urban geographer Dr Jon Silver and learn the recent history of our changing city, and what we can do to defend Manchester from a tidal wave of asset-driven development?
Where: Manchester
How: Walking & Public Transport (tram)
Practicalities: This field trip covered a distance of between 3 and 5 miles. The first stop was at Deansgate Station. There were opportunities for a comfort break and refreshments after the first hour and towards the end.
Field trip leaders: Jon Silver (University of Sheffield)  and Dr Richard Goulding . 

Site visit Housing and finacialisation in Manchester

Option 3 – Energy

What: People’s Republic of Energy walking tour of Manchester’s energy history and future, with Carbon Co-op and Jam and Justice
A customised version of the Power in the City walk developed with Carbon Coop and partners as part of Jam and Justice, this is an immersive journey on foot around Manchester, exploring the past, present and future of its energy supply. Walkers will be on foot for a majority of this activity. Please dress warmly.   
Where: Manchester 
How: Walking Tour & Public Transport
Practicalities: The overall walking distance is approximately 1 mile. Refreshments will was provided during the walk. The first stop was at John Rylands Library. We arrived back at Chamber Space in time for lunch at 13:30.
Field trip leader: Britt Jurgensen (Carbon Coop). 

Historical Energy walk in Manchester - until today

Option 4 – Community-led organising: lessons from the Global South, with Mums Mart Community Association (Accessible option)

Delegates were driven over to Brownley Green Methodist Church in Wythenshawe by coach to meet with members of the Greater Manchester Savers network.
Greater Manchester Savers is a network of women-led and resident-led savings groups which aims to link up residents within and across communities in the City of Manchester and beyond to share ideas, experiences and strategies for reducing poverty in their neighbourhoods, towns and cities.
We will be hosted in particular by Mums Mart who have been the lead partner in the Realising Just Cities project “Community-led organising: Seeing the inner city from the South”. Mums Mart co-designed this action research initiative together with Dr Sophie King in 2017 after a series of exchanges with visiting South African activists affiliated to the international social movement Slums/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) in 2015-16.
There is much policy and practice speak about ‘community-led’ initiatives and processes in the UK at the current juncture. This research sought to explore what it means in practice for communities to be ‘in the lead’, what makes it easier or more challenging particularly for residents in areas of long term deprivation to instigate and take forward community-led activities and associations; and what makes it easier or more difficult to influence local development planning? Women from a number of neighbourhoods across Greater Manchester have explored these questions by participating in international exchanges with the South African and Kenyan affiliates of SDI including by visiting these movements in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nairobi to experience their approaches.
During the conference visit, participants in the research and associated action sharered what they have learned and discuss ways they are building on this learning in communities like Wythenshawe where SDI-style savings schemes have started up, and through a city-wide network called Manchester Inner City Exchange. (We hope to also be joined by a partner from SDI Kenya who will share the experience of Kenyan activists over the course of the project).
Where: Wythenshawe
How: Visit to Wythenshawe by Coach Transfer. 
Practicalities: Optional short walk to view the local green space.
Field trip leader: Sophie King (SMLIP)

Option 5 – Why Manchester is Britain’s Most Political City? 

What: New Manchester Walks In Step With the City
A walking tour with Ed Glinert of New Manchester Walks, exploring the ways in which Manchester’s industrial and political history is woven into its built environment and hidden corners. The tour visited some of central Manchester’s most famous buildings and memorials- such as Central Library, Free Trade Hall and John Rylands Library, bringing their stories to life: the Suffragettes, protesters, industrialists, authors, critics and social movements that have shaped, and continue to shape, Manchester’s urban space. The final port of call was at the People’s History Museum, we returned to Chamber Space for lunch.
Practicalities: This tour took place on foot (with a few scheduled rest stops) so participants needed a reasonable level of fitness.
Where: Manchester City Centre 
How: Walking
Field trip leader: Ed Glinert (New Manchester Walks).
 

Option 6 – Co-production in Action: A Visit to Manchester Settlement and the Action Research Collective  

What: Visit Manchester Settlement and discuss the lessons, process and impacts of co-production in the Jam and Justice project 
Using the example of Manchester Settlement, this fieldtrip provided an opportunity to meet co-researchers in Greater Manchester involved in the Jam and Justice project and discuss the practices, impacts and lessons of our work to co-produce the city. 
Where: Openshaw, Manchester
How: Visit to Openshaw by Coach Transfer
Field trip leaders: Catherine Durose (University of Birmingham), Liz Richardson (University of Manchester), with Adrian Ball (Manchester Settlement)

Blog report from the site-visit Co-production in Manchester
 

Lunch, discussions and networking dinner

After the fieldtrips, we returned to Chamber House for lunch and a debrief. Lunch at 13:30. In the afternoon, we had a series of discussions and city exchanges around key urban justice issues and questions of governance, leadership and participation. This was co-hosted with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. 

International Policy Exchange 
How to Realise Just Cities:  The Role and Value of Co-production in Urban Policy  
 

Venue: Elliot Conference Suite, Chamber Space  

Organised by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, with support from the Realising Just Cities team at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield

The session will focus on the role and value of co-production between municipal authorities, residents and other urban stakeholders in urban policy.  
The purpose of the exchange was to: Share knowledge on how GMCA is thinking about co-production in urban governance and service delivery. Engage in comparative learning with Mistra Urban Futures’ city partners, including Gothenburg, Malmo, Kisumu, Cape Town, with additional input from Barcelona. Shared tips, tools, techniques and resources for thinking about the role and value of co-production for decision-makers to support the realisation of more just cities.  
Live scribing from @Scribble Inc was used to capture the day’s discussions. Attendees were invited to join Mistra Urban Futures in celebrating the culmination of 10 years work on Realising Just Cities.

Outline of Programme  
1430-1445  Welcome and Introduction to the Session 
Beth Perry and David Rogerson 
1445-1600  Big Issues, New Approaches: Co-producing Greater Manchester? 
 
The Greater Manchester Model: We are reforming public services by building a new relationship between public services and citizens, communities and businesses that enables shared decision making, democratic accountability and voice, genuine coproduction and joint delivery of services. Andy Hollingsworth/Jacob Botham Culture: The GMCA Strategy for Culture and Creativity was published in March, 2020 and sets out how culture will act as a driver in to enrich and improve the lives of residents across Greater Manchester. Co-production is central to our approach to meaningful cultural engagement and we are working with cultural organisations, local government, the voluntary sector and residents. Julie McCarthy. 

Age Friendly Manchester: We want to make Greater Manchester the best place in the UK to grow older. We are already the UK’s first age-friendly city-region according to the World Health Organization. Through the Mayor’s age-friendly challenge, we're finding practical examples of what age-friendly really means and sharing best practice across the city region. Paul McGarry. 

GM Good Employment Charter: The Charter is being co-designed with people from across the city region and will help improve employment standards, deliver good jobs with opportunities for people to progress and support a thriving and productive economy. Nick Fairclough.

Digital: We are developing a blueprint for GM Digital that puts people, innovation and growth squarely at the centre of our plans. We want to make Greater Manchester the Home of the Digital Citizen with residents empowered by data driven, real time insights and digital technologies. Phil Swan. 
 
1600-1620 Break  

1620-1720 International Reflections and Panel Discussion 

Cape Town: Carol Wright, Manager Research, City of Cape Town, Policy and Strategy Department o Kisumu: Sam Okello, Member of Kisumu City Board and Chairman Kisumu Local Interaction Platform (KLIP) and former Mayor of Kisumu City (2008-2013) o Buenos Aires: Mariana Cammisa, SDG Analyst, Buenos Aires City Government o Malmo: Per Arne Nilsson, Senior Environmental Strategist, City of Malmö and Gothenburg: Mikael Cullberg, Chair of the Gothenburg Consortium, Head of the Governor’s Chancellery, County Administrative Agency o Barcelona: Arnau Monterde, Co-founder of Decidim and Director of Democratic Innovation, City of Barcelona 

1720-1800 Sharing Knowledge, Gathering Collective Intelligence 

1800-1815 Reflections and Wrap Up 

1815-2000 Networking and Buffet  

2000-2010 Formal Close  
 
Following the close of the event, the Mistra Urban Futures delegation stayed in Chamber Space for some internal wrapping up of business, before heading back to Sheffield on coaches. Coaches departed by 2100 and arrive in Sheffield around 2200.