Entrepreneurial Learning City Regions

This book proposes an alternative strategy to improve and sustain prosperity, through the creation of an entrepreneurial culture in learning cities or city regions. The edited collection provides insights into how entrepreneurship, education, job creation and social inclusion can be aligned through entrepreneurial learning, in the context of territorial development. With rich and varied contributions from a wide field, including policy makers, entrepreneurs, an investment banker, leaders of universities and councils, the voluntary sector, scientists, educators and students, it reviews and assesses how learning cities and regions may become more prosperous by investing in the development of entrepreneurial skills throughout lifelong learning. Reinforced by examples on developing and retaining entrepreneurial people, this book contributes to our understanding of how entrepreneurial learning can be fostered in different city and city-region contexts. It makes an interesting contribution to the field in terms of mapping out complex issues and testing the practical validity of the concept, while also providing rich and insightful case studies centred on the Welsh experience with entrepreneurial learning city regions. The high quality international contributions demonstrate the new worldwide interest in developing an entrepreneurial culture for the benefit of a city or region, rather than an entrepreneurial mind-set for individual benefit. This fascinating subject will be of interest to many social scientists, policymakers, and practitioners. It will be found especially valuable for professionals involved in economic, inclusive and sustainable city or regional development.

About the Author: Judith James has experience in higher education management, particularly in adult continuing education, equality and diversity, employability, entrepreneurial learning and widening participation. Her current role is Head of Strategic Regional Collaboration at Swansea University. She was a member of the UNESCO International Expert Group on Developing Learning Cities and contributed to the development of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. Judith was influential in bringing the Learning City initiative to Swansea and developed the Swansea Case Study in Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities (UNESCO, 2015).
Raúl Valdés-Cotera is a Senior Programme Specialist at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Programme Manager of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. For more than ten years he has been working in international organisations in the field of lifelong learning and adult education. He has led various research and advocacy projects such as the regional report of the current situation for adult education in Latin America and more recently the Glossary for Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. He co-edited (with J. Yang) Conceptual Evolution and Policy Developments in Lifelong Learning (UNESCO, 2011).
Jean Preece is an experienced ICT Programme Manager and European Project Manager in the Department for Adult Continuing Education. She has managed the training of over 3,000 disadvantaged community learners in ICT and personal development with great success in achieving employment outcomes, including self-employment. Her project 'Swansea Arrivals' supported refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into the community. She co-led a successful Grundtvig 3 year project (2003-2006) 'Parenting in a Multicultural European City' with eleven European partners. She has also participated in Transversal, Horizon, and Lingua projects, including the XPLOIT Multilateral project which focused on the development of learning regions. Jean's publications focus on the use of ICT training to enhance widening participation in higher education.