surap2015

Global Villages

How Global Communication Supports Local Innovation

Examples and Conclusions

Franz NahradaGlobal Villages Lab Vienna

The Theory

If we really want to stop rural decay:

Rural Areas need more education and have less.

Rural Areas thrive on cooperation and integration.

New technologies hold vast decentralizing potential

Urban and global knowledge are more accessible than ever.

Local resources are more prone to cyclic integration than ever.


Rising standards of urban life together with increased mobility attracted many young people out of rural areas.

If standards of urban life have to matched,not in identical but equivalent ways, a few people have to be skilled to perform many tasks. (example: care)

The educational system is focused and accumulated in cities; this vicious circle can only be broken by unconventional means.


Solution Patterns:

Access educational resources online

Build multifunctional local support centers for learners, learning groups and learning communities.

Create intermediate environments for young people to try, fail and learn in finding their place in the region.

The Theory







Rural Areas thrive on cooperation and integration

It is a question of life and death of rural areas to manage mutual dependencies instead of assuming that competition can resolve the problem of already lacking resources

Circular Economy is not only a way of waste management and product lifecycle management, but also an economic form in its own rights: How can everybody be included, supplied and empowerded in a sustainable flow of material resources? So that everybody is relevant ?

Rural Areas thrive on cooperation and integration

Solution Patterns:

Reliable Cycle Building is an economic form in its own rights, used to exist as moral economy and needs to be redesigned around win-win situations. Example Biogas and Tourism.

Complementing Villages with specialised themes enable rural microregions to match urban standards.

School Campuses prepare young kids for village themes. (Moosburg, Vorchdorf), Study centers give access to multiple forms of higher education.

Example: School Campus Moosburg

The Theory








Decentralized Automation (CNC cutter & multimachines, Container Facories.

Mature telematic systems (Telemedicine supporting local practicioner and similar)

Global Cooperative Open Source Hardware Development (OSE, Farmhack etc.)

The Theory








MOOCs and similar forms of Open Courseware and Webinars (iVersity, Coursera, edX, Edudip, ...)

Specialised Educational Support (Khan academy, Wolfram, ETH Zurich for Math)

Idea spreading by condensed talks (TED,TEDx)

Streaming Video from Conferences and Lectures, One by One Teaching and Consulting via Skype

Learning and study groups, learners and teachers communities, Open Educational Resources,

In theory.. but ....

A New Paradigm

Market Failure ?

Political Failure ?

Or simply WRONG MODEL?

Example: Village Innovation Talks

The Theory







Local resources are more prone to cyclic integration than ever

Better use of resources (Solar Geo, Smart(!) Biomass, Green Plant Chemistry, Upcycling technologies, heat waste as local energy source)

More knowledge intensive than the waste economy.(Rob Hopkins: Upskilling) Need for managing intermediary processes by physical interfaces and human engagement. Need for new creative solutions in all walks of life, even if the local everyday history provides a rich textbook of ideas.

How to bring the knowledge to the places where it is needed?

Places of Access and Learning

Arrange learning in a way, that groups of people are encouraged to discuss application and potential of what they are learning. Create local learning centers where people can do common viewing, listening and replying to online content, whilst also digesting internally .
Education and Encounter

Have local intermediaries present and moderate who act as representatives of local and global knowledge alike. (eg. Minimed)

Case Study Kirchbach

Background:

1600 Inhabitants in 6 Local CommunitiesLA21 - Municipality30 Full und Part time - FarmersLocal businesses and services robustSchool, Library, Parish ...


Guest Rooms
Mini Hotel

Offices,

Educational
Center &
Coworking

Service
Center

Wining and Dining CellarOf course renovated by local businesses /Wood Chip Heating / barrier free access


C

More than 100 lectures
from Graz University
Increasing number
of local audiences

Still Kirchbach ...

Days of Utopia, simultanous event with a large education center in the west of Austria

Still Kirchbach ...

Bioversity, virtual university for biological farming- reaching up to 60 locations

Result Kirchbach

9 years of succesful local event creation

Proof of concept in terms of demand and participation.

No coordination with municipality

Burnout and massive breakdown of proponents

New owners will most likely continue the concept.

2. Campus Osttirol

Tthe most peripheral region in Austria, rather small in terms of 50.000 inhabitants -,but still a NUTS 3 region well outside the typical range of 150,000 to 800,000 inhabitants. 3 big valleys.Small Town Lienz 12000 inhabitants. Strong local center.

Campus Osttirol

* Although Lienz has several educational institutions, an institution for higher (scientific) education is missing. Exodus of gifted young people is only one of the results.
* We suggested a process of regional awareness building about the possibilities of Higher Education via Internet and screened various models of implementing higher education in the region to find design patterns- supporting participation of local actors.

Campus Osttirol

Our goal with the roll-out of a pattern language is to increase "passive competencies" of all groups involved, which means to understand the complexity of the field they are acting in, understand the different options they have to reach their goal, understand the thinking of other people, professions and groups involved, get aware of win-win-constellations and opportunities, get a clear understanding about long-term sustainability and possible "side effects" of solutions. (Leitner, Nahrada, Rthler, Ziegler)

Campus Osttirol

Pattern Cards for Handling Design Patterns

Campus Osttirol

Perspective Cards to Contextualize Patterns

Result Campus Osttirol

Indirect result: politics and institutions reacted to increased awareness and created some higher education offerings with cooperating universities, for example mechatronics.

The actors process is still going on, a climate of experimentation has been created and we want to continue the process by instigating local actors to use the full potential of cooperations to create examplary courses and discover synergies inside and outside the region.

Thank you for your attention!

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SURAP NITRA 2015