Harold Wilson once said a week was a long time in politics. Well, a term is certainly a long time in a foundation degree in sustainable communities. We’ve covered so much already and I’m not even half way through the first year.

The focus so far has been on two things. Firstly, we’ve been getting to grips with the key concepts and exploring the different theories about what makes a sustainable community. If a place is to be somewhere people will want to live and work, what do you have to get right? What works?

Sir John Egan’s now famous wheel is pretty hard to beat for sheer comprehensiveness, I have to say. His eight spokes – including the economic, the social and the cultural, the built environment, transport, governance, services, the environment, and equity – seem to have it covered. We can all argue about how best to ensure each of these is addressed properly. But few can deny that all of them need to be given due consideration.

All of which brings home the sheer breadth of the subject. Nothing quite prepared me for that. The concept of sustainable communities touches on far more areas than I thought it would.

Secondly, we’ve been looking back a lot, getting a sense of the history of the whole sustainable communities agenda. It’s fascinating to learn all that’s gone before, from the genesis of such ideas in the 1950s and 1960s through to the Tories’ City Challenge concept in the 1990s and then the approach of New Labour since 1997. I’ve even taken up the tutors’ advice to read the first report of Lord Rogers’ urban task force.

A lot’s clearly been achieved in the last decade, and cities such as Manchester are shining beacons of how successful urban regeneration can be delivered. But there’s still a lot of work to be done – not least in the areas of environmental sustainability, housing quality and transport infrastructure. But with an industrial legacy so much greater than our European neighbours, perhaps dealing with the problems of a post-industrial world was always going to be harder for us.

So that’s the broad brush of the first few months studying towards my first degree. What of the detail?

I’ve already finished two assignments (passes achieved in both I am pleased to report) and been out on my first field trip (to a deprived estate in Newcastle).

The first assignment, as part of the Introduction to Sustainability module, was a self-assessment exercise aimed at reviewing one’s own skills in areas such as writing, numeracy and presentation skills. The idea was to make an honest assessment of the areas you might want to improve. I’d say I am reasonably confident in most areas, though I could definitely do with more experience in making presentations.

So, it was lucky that the second assignment offered a chance to do just that – albeit as a group. Presenting as a team does give you a sense of ‘safety in numbers’ so I’m not sure it helped address any of my confidence issues. But it was a useful exercise nonetheless.

The presentation was part of the Researching Sustainable Communities module, and our group task was to tell a community (cleverly disguised as our tutors) how we would carry out a piece of research into safeguarding Bangladeshi children in Newcastle. We were asked to consider what sort of information we would need to give community stakeholders.

Working as a group was fine, however the logistics of putting together the presentation outside of class time was difficult. We all wanted to have an input yet we all lived in different parts of the country. The only answer seemed to lie in bouncing emails backwards and forwards (complete with 5MB attachments and lots of track changes). We’ve asked the tutors could we find some way of utilising Blackboard – the university’s electronic, online teaching resource – for future group work. That is, could a group piece of work be put up on this part of the university website for colleagues to access, amend and comment on? Watch this space.

This is the second blog from David Campbell in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

For those of you who have been keeping track of my blogs, I suppose I should start by letting you know how I got on with my recent job application. You may remember I had applied for a post with the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit in Sheffield working to divert young Muslim men from extremism. The bad news is I didn’t get the job.

It was just the kind of project management role which I dreamed this course would lead me to. Perhaps it was a bit too much to expect that would happen before the course had finished (I still have a year and two terms to go after all).

Still, recent sessions on the foundation degree course in sustainable communities, in particular a four-day session in December on organisational skills, have been providing me with some useful tools for this area of work.

I found the module really interesting, in particular the presentation we were given on the two widely recognised approaches to project management.

First there’s the Prince2 approach and I will declare an interest from the start: I really don’t like this method at all. Looking at its methodology on paper is a bit like examining a circuit board with wires going all over the place with no discernable sequence or format. It’s very much like a flow chart and is highly prescriptive (“if A happens, please proceed to B”). There seems to be little room for the user’s own initiative; in fact it almost absolves the user of any responsibility. Their job is to simply make an assessment of what is happening and consult the Prince2 chart to establish what to do next.

Simple eh? Well, not really. I think successful project management has to involve some thinking on your feet, because circumstances on the ground are unique and can change so rapidly. And the absence of any focus on desirable outcomes also makes this approach weak, in my opinion. I’m sure there are some circumstances in which it might work. I just can’t think of any.

Of far more use was the second approach we were taught: the logical framework method. It’s prioritisation of desirable outcomes makes it far superior in my opinion. It takes you through a logical process whereby you consider the objectives of a project, your overall outcomes, your purpose and how you will measure success or failure.

I can see this as being far more useful to me in my current role as a client support officer with Apprenticeships for All in Sheffield. Useful when I am delivering projects like Bright Futures which aims to train a group of young people not in education, employment or training, to be youth workers. I am often very good at coming up with ideas for projects at work. I’m perhaps less good at following through on them, understanding how to make them work and how to assess if they are viable. Using the logical framework approach could help me overcome this.

The organisational skills module has also taught me how to plan more effectively and more thoroughly. And the course in general has helped me develop better ‘thinking skills’. I feel better equipped to look at the bigger picture rather than just the information that’s in front of me. I’m also better able to consider the possible impacts of what I’m doing on other areas; whether it’s a positive or negative impact, and how to plan for this. It’s also made me much more confident in my delivery of ideas (to managers and service users). I’m able to articulate things in much more detail but also more concisely. All of which is helpful in managing projects.

Similarly useful was the teaching on partnership working, especially hearing colleagues’ experiences of this area of creating sustainable communities. It was good to get others’ perspectives on what worked well for them, what had gone wrong and what lessons they had learned. It was an excellent reminder of the importance of making sure all partners know what they are responsible for. Clear lines of accountability have to be drawn if a project is to work.

Speaking of work, there’s certainly no shortage of it at present. January has been d-day for no less than three assignments; all of which is proving a bit too much to be honest. As the days get longer I am beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel around February time. Who knows, perhaps by then I will have the time to put some of this stuff into practice!

This is the fifth blog from Lisa Butchart in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

In the wonderfully weird American indy movie, Donnie Darko, a cool American high school teacher informs the film’s teenager hero that one phrase is objectively the most beautiful in the English language. No, it’s not ‘I love you’. It is ‘cellar door’.

Opinions on the subject may differ; but I’ll guarantee some of the phraseology I picked up last week at Sheffield Hallam University won’t be giving ‘cellar door’ a run for its money anytime soon.

Take ‘logical framework sequences’ for example. If ‘cellar door’ is beautiful, ‘logical framework sequences’ are not. It’s exactly the sort of syntax that would get blood boiling at the Plain English Campaign. But given the phrases which have crept into common parlance during the recent financial crisis (‘collateralised debt obligations’ anyone?) perhaps fewer eyebrows would have been raised than six months ago!

We were in Sheffield for a marathon four-day session on organisational skills for sustainable communities: the so-called ‘soft skills’. Project Management, partnership working, assertiveness training, leadership skills and team working were all part of the module… so far, so plain English!

And so far, so useful. This is an area which the course has promised to deliver on and has. Some of what was covered – especially leadership skills, chairing meetings and assertiveness training – were not new to me but they were an excellent refresher and the opportunity to pick up some handy tips. I have never known such freedom in purging emails without simply hitting ‘delete all’, or in learning how to say “no” to the senior management team!

For one full day, our attentions were focused upon exploring the essential principles of project management including the approaches of the ‘Project Cycle Management’ and ‘Prince2’ systems.

As a trainee architect, project management is part and parcel of what I do, so it’s not surprising that this element of the module was of particular interest, if only to show me where I have been going wrong!

For the uninitiated, I should probably explain the differences between the two approaches. Prince2 ultimately focuses upon an output – that is, delivering an end product; say a building. For Project Cycle Management, however, outputs are matched against ‘desirable’ outcomes. The theory is simple – establish desirable outcomes at the outset then work backwards; praying that the output will continue to support established outcomes. If only the application was as straightforward.

Although the art of successful project management may be in the ability to devolve responsibility; this, with the continuous review against outcomes forces all groups to communicate, with the project manager being the conduit for information flow.

By way of example, I am currently working on a project to build a £5 million youth centre in the Belle Isle area of south Leeds. Funded by the Big Lottery, it is located in an area that has seen its fair share of abandonment over the years.

So what lessons might our two approaches to project management offer? Under Prince2, the chosen output – in this case the new building – is paramount. But then, if you take the Project Cycle Management approach, those desirable outcomes come to the fore. For the community in Belle Isle that means the delivery of essential services and initiatives aimed at promoting healthy eating, greater participation in sport, better sexual health, reduced truancy and lifelong learning opportunities. These can only be achieved by an approach which clearly focuses on these defined outcomes – and by engaging those with a vested interest in making them happen. Project Cycle Management does. Prince2 doesn’t. Another lesson I have learned is that both systems require a lot of paperwork. I suppose you can’t have everything!

This is the fifth blog from Richard Oliver in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

The future, as the lead singer of the Clash, Joe Strummer, once mused, is unwritten. These four simple words are a beautiful statement of the obvious which can be read in two ways. Firstly, what lies ahead cannot be foretold (if it’s not been written yet, how can it?). And secondly, tomorrow is there for the taking.

As we begin a year which looks set to be one of the worst on record for the global economy, we could be forgiven for not wanting to look into our crystal balls, even if they were able to offer us an insight into the future. We might not like what we see.

The future is something I have been thinking about quite a lot recently. In fact, it’s at the heart of a recent essay I have been working on as part of my foundation degree in sustainable communities.I have alluded to it in previous blogs but finally handed it in early in January.

We were asked to consider the “orthodox (capitalist) reading of ‘the economic’ and crucially its promotion of competition and self-interest over cooperation and mutual aid. And “what are the implications of this when promoting social and economic sustainability?

In reaching my conclusions on this question, I too have been forced to conclude that the future is unwritten. We truly don’t know what’s going to happen. And we cannot be certain how the dichotomy at the heart of this question will be resolved; how (or indeed if) the tussle between competition and cooperation will be settled.

As I continue with this course I am more convinced than ever that you don’t have to have all the answers to these questions. On the one hand, my personal view is that socialism and extreme laissez faire capitalism have both failed. But as the industrial age gives way to the knowledge age, what alternative ‘readings’ might emerge is anyone’s guess. My instincts tell me they will have to be more pragmatic and flexible, and less ideological than what has gone before.

That’s not to say the course hasn’t been proving useful. It’s as much about the journey as the destination. So even though you might not reach any firm conclusions, you can still enjoy the ride.

My knowledge of government policy is certainly improving. And there have even been occasions away from the classroom where I have been able to capitalise on this. At a recent local council meeting in Bridlington, where I am closely involved with the area’s ongoing regeneration, a phrase cropped up which would probably have passed me by 12 months ago.

The phrase was ‘participatory budgeting’ and refers to the devolution of some five per cent of local councils’ budgets to local communities. I suddenly thought, ‘I’ve heard that somewhere before’ and remembered we had covered it on the course. I was able to ask questions of the council officer who had raised the issue and felt, I have to admit, pretty pleased with myself. There are certainly things I am able to do now which I would not be doing had I not started this course.

I’m learning all the time – new pieces of information are coming my way, different ways of looking at things. I’m still discovering the benefits of those, and sometimes there are hidden benefits.

So as I head into term two of year two, I’m glad I am still here. There’s the usual struggle to find the time to do everything, but I am optimistic about the year ahead. Even if I can’t predict exactly how it will pan out!

This is the fifth blog from Carlo Verda in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

In my last blog I confessed that my approach to assignments usually involved ‘leaving everything until the last minute’. Well, I am pleased to report that I did indeed break the habit of a lifetime in September. Working together as a group finally forced me to reconsider the merits of the cramming technique.

So my last piece of solo written work for my foundation degree course in sustainable communities was finished two weeks before the deadline. The fact that I was on holiday for a fortnight prior to the due date should perhaps be taken into account. Still, it’s an achievement I’m somewhat proud of!

We had a choice of five questions to round off our module in economic sustainability and I opted for: How can community self-help best be harnessed in deprived neighbourhoods?

I couldn’t have found a question more interesting or relevant to my current line of work – or one closer to my heart. (For those of you who haven’t read my earlier blogs I’m a client support officer for Apprenticeships for All, a scheme run by Burngreave New Deal for Communities in Sheffield.)

I believe passionately that service providers concerned with delivering sustainable communities have to do their utmost to promote self-help. And this requires a fundamental shift in the way they approach service users – to one based firmly on anti-oppressive practices.

Such terminology is embedded in the area of social work, but it seems strangely absent from policies or programmes aimed at creating sustainable communities, promoting community cohesion, self-help or empowerment.

What do I mean by anti-oppressive in this context? Service providers are often the holders of knowledge, opportunity, information and even power. If we really want to do more than just pay lip service to the idea of empowering communities, service providers have to be willing to relinquish some of these things. In not doing so, I believe we are acting in an oppressive way.

All too often there is an ‘us and them’ attitude which fosters a reluctance to hand over power, knowledge, opportunity and information. It’s as if doing so requires a commitment to say to the service user – “you are on the same social level as me; you are my equal”. And this is a commitment that people aren’t usually prepared to make.

The tragedy is this: the communities we so desperately seek to engage with are right under our noses. They are there in the service users we interact with on a daily basis – people who perhaps don’t come to community consultation events or who wouldn’t join a residents’ group.

But they are there and they are willing to participate – they just need a little help and a little less oppression from us.

What this course is helping me do is identify where elements of sustainable communities policy might be falling short in this area. Before I started at Sheffield, I think I would have assumed that those formulating the policies knew what they were doing, were more educated than I, and wouldn’t dream of ever being oppressive (whether consciously or unconsciously). Twelve months into this degree and I am re-evaluating that position slightly. I’m more confident now at challenging practices and policies where I can see they are being oppressive, where they are not treating everyone as equals.

That confidence has also manifested itself in my first job application since starting the degree. It’s for a post with the Neighbourhood Renewal unit in Sheffield – as a project coordinator working on diverting young people away from Islamic extremism. It’s just the sort of move into project management which I dreamed the course would lead me to. And it offers me the opportunity to get involved at the strategic level – creating programmes and projects which will have a real impact. And I wouldn’t be in a position to apply for it without this course. Watch this space!

This is the fourth blog from Lisa Butchart in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

My introduction to the Academy’s foundation degree in sustainable communities has so far been gentle. This is something I am definitely not complaining about – especially considering I haven’t been in formal education for about a decade and this is my first degree course. Going back to school at 32 will take some getting used to I think.

However, I’m under no illusions. I recognise that this is just the beginning and I fully expect things to shift up a gear very soon.

My first impressions of the course at Northumbria are good. First there’s all the new ways of working to get used to. These include fairly alien concepts like academic referencing – designed among other things to prevent plagiarism I’m told. And then there’s the university way of setting out reports and assignments. All very new, but not too difficult to get your head around.

There seems to be plenty of support we can access if we are not sure – though I suspect the proof of the pudding will come when I submit my first assignment. Then I think I will get some sense of what sort of feedback and direction I can expect.

And despite that gentle introduction, the first assignments are looming already. We’ve been told the ‘nature’ of them so far and set off to begin research and background reading. We will be told what our actual task is at our next session in mid-November.

At least one these assignments will hopefully give me a chance to examine the nature of sustainable communities close to home. That’s the West Coast of Cumbria; not an area usually associated with regeneration and deprivation (most people think it’s close to the Lake District and therefore it must be affluent). The assignment will involve assessing the impact of a specific policy intervention (eg Sure Start) in a particular ward, in this case Flimby near Workington where I live.

I’ll let you know my conclusions, but already I am excited that the course seems to be fulfilling some of my hopes and aspirations.

Perhaps I should set out what these are.

Firstly, I’ve taken this course because I hope it will help me in my current role – as a programme development officer for the Rural Development Programme for England. I’m employed by the North West Development Agency, and my task is to monitor projects funded by the programme, and make sure they are spending their money as they should do. These projects are wide ranging but have a general focus on improving the sustainability and competitiveness of the rural economy.

Out here in Cumbria we have an urban regeneration company, West Lakes Renaissance, but if you don’t work in regeneration these terms tend to pass you by and it’s hard to understand how it all fits together. That’s what I hope this course will give me. Already we’ve been widening the net, learning more about things such as New Deal for Communities, something which doesn’t necessarily impact on my work but it all helps put things into perspective.

Understanding which policy interventions have worked and which haven’t – and why they have and haven’t worked – is going to be invaluable. I can envisage a day when I’ll be able to go into a work meeting and say, “well, something like this has happened before, and this is why it did or didn’t work, and these were the lessons learned”. That’s exciting.

Ultimately, I’m here to improve my skills set (in the light of the Egan Review I may not be alone in this aspiration). Generic skills, particularly project management skills, are top of my list. In the long-term I hope this will enable me to take the next step up – into project management roles. As the old saying goes, every journey begins with a first step…

This is the first blog from David Campbell in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

The beginning of year two of my foundation degree in sustainable communities finds me in familiar territory.

Whether it’s the title of our first module – sustainable communities and the environment – or the location of our first field trip – the Hockerton Housing Project in Nottinghamshire – this is definitely what gets my creative juices flowing!

We’ve only been back in college for one weekend to date, but so far my impression is we are moving away from full theory towards combining this with its practical application. As I start year two I’m hopeful – hopeful that I can do better than last year, hopeful I am learning from my mistakes and hopeful I can continue improving my writing skills. As part of the first cohort of students on the ASC course, I also hope I can do this degree justice.

Our last session in particular was fascinating as we explored different historical interpretations of utopian societies created through planning of the built environment – from the concrete modernist visions of Le Corbusier in France, the dispersed cities of Frank Lloyd Wright in the United States to Ebeneezer Howard’s Garden Cities at Letchworth and Welwyn in the UK. Although I was familiar with these concepts, it was a good refresher.

Also was our visit to Hockerton, Brenda and Robert Vale’s vision of a totally self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable community built way back in 1992 when sustainable architecture existed on the margins, not as part of the mainstream.

It’s small scale (there are just five houses) and some argue it couldn’t be replicated in an urban setting, but the potential is amazing. As the government’s deadline for all new housing to be zero carbon by 2016 looms, it’s incredible to think that pioneers like this were leading the way a decade and a half ago.

In my work in architecture, sustainable development still seems to be treated as a ‘bolt on’ – it is something which is all too often added on to a project, and taken out as budgets tighten, rather than being integral to design from the outset.

Just what impact the coming recession will have on all this is anyone’s guess but my fear is house builders and perhaps even the government will begin to say, ‘we can’t afford this’. And with the built environment amounting to about half of total carbon emissions, what a tragedy that would be. Achieving zero carbon buildings is a challenge, but in my view it will be a less of a challenge than having to deal with the effects of climate change. From the mouth of our guide around Hockerton, living in his home requires no additional training, nor does it require you to sacrifice the latest white-good technologies.

As far as the course is concerned this is an area I hope to delve deeper into. The next few years will see us given the chance to choose some options which are of more personal interest, and sustainable development in the built environment will be top of my list.

On the smaller scale that means exploring the most sustainable methods of building and construction. And on the larger scale I hope it will mean analysis of how to create great places which are more sustainable; places which are not isolated but which have the facilities locally – schools, work space, hospitals, shops – so people can exist without having to travel unnecessarily.

Ultimately, if that begins to get people thinking about the built environment more – and the impact it has on the natural environment – that can only be a good thing. I’m not sure this is a direct objective of the course but I certainly plan to make it one of my interpretations of it! And, given much of the course to date has been about learning from each other, maybe this is an area where I can share some of my knowledge and experience with my colleagues.

At the moment, we all have a pretty good sense of the impact of using a motor car, even if we have had no involvement or interest in its design. The same is sadly not true of our buildings, where our interest seems to be limited to the ’Changing Rooms’ level of fixtures and fittings. In fact, most people I see walking around our cities seem more interested in their shoes than what is around them.

I think it was Alexis de Tocqueville who said in a democracy, people get the government they deserve. Perhaps the same is true of our buildings. And maybe one day people will begin to look up – and then we will start to get the fantastic buildings and spaces we deserve. I can but dream!

This is the fourth blog from Richard Oliver in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

There is an old Chinese proverb (though some believe it may also have been a curse) which says: “may you live in interesting times”.

I suspect people have always thought their own times are interesting – after all, they are the only times we will ever know. But the events of the last few weeks – the near collapse of the global financial system and the looming possibility of a deep recession – may prove to really live up to the proverb.

There’s a sense that we really are at a turning point in history. As always though, just how interesting will be for the history books to judge.

It’s certainly given an interesting and relevant context to my summer assignment. You may remember from my last blog, but I had chosen to get to grips with question 5:

“The orthodox (capitalist) reading of ‘the economic’ is one which promotes competition and self-interest over cooperation and mutual aid. What are the implications of this when promoting social and economic sustainability?”

While recent events may have placed capitalist competition and self-interest on the back foot, I’m not sure it spells the death knell of market forces entirely (as some have predicted).

The jury is probably also still out on the consequences for sustainable communities. The only thing that is certain is: nothing is certain. Things are changing rapidly and will certainly be done in a new way in future. There are new opportunities which could bring radical change but we don’t know what they are yet.

For me personally, radical change was certainly on the agenda as the start of the second year of my foundation degree in sustainable communities approached. I have to confess I came very close to giving up the course. Things were just getting too hectic for me, I had too much on and didn’t think I could find the time to devote to my assignments. But, like the financial markets perhaps, I walked up to the brink and then took a step back.

I reminded myself that ultimately there’s a very valuable qualification to come at the end of this. And then I thought of all the other good stuff.

For a start there was our first project on returning after the summer break. This was a visit to a real life environmentally sustainable community – the Hockerton Housing Project in Nottingham. I was seriously impressed (though it may have helped that it was a nice sunny day).

As I continue my quest to bring an Arts Business Centre and a creative spaces network to the East Riding of Yorkshire, this is the sort of stuff which is going to prove really useful. I am currently contributing to a feasibility study for the centre which demands consideration be given to sustainability. Similarly, the realisation that I will be involved in some of the planning decisions around delivering the Arts Business Centre has acted as a further incentive to stick with it (especially given there will be more of a focus on this in year 2).

Then there’s all the regeneration work I am involved with in Bridlington – on Yorkshire Forward’s Urban Renaissance Programme and as vice-chair of the Core Steering Group, Bridlington Regeneration Partnership. I genuinely feel, one year into the course, that my credibility in these institutions has gone up. I no longer feel like I’m “that artist bloke from down the high street” – but someone who can confidently conduct conversations on planning and government policy and the role of creative industries in delivering sustainable communities. That’s really important to me.

And then I thought of all the help and support I have been given since I was diagnosed as dyslexic at the end of year one. That’s included a host of valuable reading material I have been directed towards and some really useful learning tips including mind mapping, a much more visual approach which suits me down to a tee.

So it looks like you’re stuck with me for another year at least!

This is the fourth blog from Carlo Verda in a series about the Academy’s foundation degree.

School’s out for summer. Well, it is in the sense there are no more classes to turn up for until October. There’ll be no end to studying, however. Far from it.

Just before we headed off on our summer break – the first year of our Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities over – we were landed with another assignment. It’s probably the biggest we’ve been set to date and marks a change from our last piece of work, which was a group project. This involved putting together a team proposal for a LETS – Local Exchange Trading System – for a fictional town in a bid to examine the effectiveness of such a system. It was a way of working I wasn’t comfortable with. For this one, we’re all on our own – which I prefer to be honest.

I’ve gone for question 5:

“The orthodox (capitalist) reading of ‘the economic’ is one which promotes competition and self-interest over cooperation and mutual aid. What are the implications of this when promoting social and economic sustainability?”

I’m hoping it will allow me to look at enlightened self-interest and its role in the ‘economic’ left wing or right wing – and in human nature generally. It should keep me busy while the rest of the country is enjoying the luxury of a summer holiday!

Now seems like a good time to look back on how I would have felt about such an assignment when I started this course in January. A lot has changed since then – not least that in June I was officially diagnosed as having dyslexia. It’s something I think I’ve known for a long time and it was a bit of a relief to have it confirmed.

The support I’ve had from the course tutors in this respect has been fantastic. I only wish it had happened earlier. I feel more confident taking on a written assignment such as the one mentioned above now that I have some new study tools to work with and develop. Now I merely have to swim the Channel instead of the Atlantic each time I write an essay.

I wish I could tell you I’m more certain about where this course is leading me. The first year may be in the can, but as to whether it will lead to a career in regeneration I’m still none the wiser (see my first blog). I’m pretty comfortable with that to be honest and don’t feel in any hurry to reach a conclusion.

It’s been enough to begin to develop an understanding of the multi-faceted landscape of sustainable communities – much of which has been feeding into my work on various regeneration bodies in the East Riding of Yorkshire area, as well as my ongoing work to set up a Business Arts Centre for the area (see previous blogs).

I’ve mostly enjoyed the bigger picture stuff. Working at the coal face of sustainable communities, it’s useful to know how it all fits together and what’s coming down the line in terms of government policy. So at the beginning we were treated to a brief political history of regeneration since the 1970s – what’s worked and what hasn’t. That was fascinating and brought home to me how there’s just not enough long-term thinking being done.

I’m even surprising myself in this respect by getting immersed in documents and policy papers that would have seemed alien and unknowable before. So I’ve recently been getting to grips with the Communities and Local Government’s latest White Paper: Communities in Control: real people, real power. It’s a follow on from An Action Plan for Community Empowerment: Building on Success, a document we studied as part of an earlier assignment on the course. I’m fascinated by how the second represents a change from the first – and specifically how it’s empowering individuals rather than local community groups. Such interest has definitely been stimulated by this course.

The course has also helped to crystallise a number of ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while. Not least that I want to get involved with the creation of sustainable communities to help prevent poverty. I’m less concerned, perhaps, with healing existing sores than preventing future ones from opening up. If nothing else, I’ve realised why I’m here.

I’m certainly glad I started the course and I’d recommend it to others. There are things I’ve liked and things I haven’t liked – but I suspect that’s inevitable. I’m very much looking forward to year two, that’s for certain.

This is the third blog from Carlo Verda in a series about ASC’s foundation degree.

The summer term at Sheffield is over, so by my reckoning that’s one year down, two to go. Well, not quite. Although we had our last teaching session in July (with none pencilled in until October) there was no quick end in sight when it came to studying.

For a start there is the small matter of a paper to finish – for the social and economic sustainability module. And then there’s the huge backlog of reading that’s been building up in the corner of my living room. The latter is now organised and carefully bound in one place, and subject to Ryanair baggage restrictions, I shall be taking it with me to peruse on holiday in France next week.

So, one year into my Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities, what’s the verdict? The course is going very well and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. A great deal of my enjoyment has stemmed from the people I’ve met, whether it’s my peers or the course tutors. Each is coming at it from a different angle but all are driven by a desire to achieve something both personally and professionally.

I have to confess it’s been a lot harder than I imagined but not for obvious reasons. It’s not that the course is too difficult. It’s just that it’s all too damn interesting. Which means once you begin studying one thing, it leads you to something else, then something else…

Combined with a general desire to do well and a little competitive streak in me, this means I’m perhaps trying to do too much. I’ve never had to study and work at the same time before – it’s always been one or the other – and it’s a difficult balancing act.

The writing side of things hasn’t come easily to me. As a designer I’m used to dealing with images and ideas, not words. However, the support and guidance from the course tutors has been fantastic and I’m confident I will improve. They’re always there for you – whether it’s in person, through email or on the telephone.

The subject matter is fascinating and I’m getting to grips with ideas and concepts that I may have neglected in my current role with the Strategic Design Alliance, Leeds City Council’s professional design services team. Recent work on poverty and deprivation has been a real eye opener (did we really only begin to start talking about ‘deprivation’ in the 1960s and 1970s?).

And already, what I am learning is having a positive impact on my 9-5(ish!) job. I’m currently involved in putting together a £4m lottery bid to build a youth hub in Leeds. Crucially, I feel like I’m not approaching this just as an architect. I feel I’m better equipped to ask the right questions of a community to find out what it is they want – a small but practical example being that we’ve included less car parking space in the design and more storage for prams and cycles.

And when recently I was asked at work to put together a masterplan for an area of Leeds I noticed something strange had happened. I didn’t automatically assume knocking it down and starting again was the only way to regenerate an area. Instead I found myself thinking of all the other things that would go to making this place a sustainable community – better health and education, tackling crime, boosting its economic viability. As an architect it’s tempting to assume renewal can only come through iconic buildings. It’s sobering to realise that isn’t always the case.

As my architectural hero Irena Bauman said recently in BD magazine: “We need to wean ourselves of our addiction to self-congratulation and the make-believe glamour of awards ceremonies. Good design, after all, is always rewarded in the best possible way: with the appreciation of the user”.

Here, here!

This is the third blog from Richard Oliver in a series about ASC’s foundation degree.