Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: Metropolis
Start date : 01.10.2018
End date : 31.03.2021
Extension date: 30.06.2021
Website: https://cityexplorationmap.com/map
The ideas behind Metropolis have been inspired by the European Year of Cultural Heritage, as partners have looked for a way to celebrate forgotten aspects of their regions’ heritage, using this to add value to their engagement with young people. In particular, the project will focus on the industrial heritage found in areas which more recently have become associated with post-industrial decline. This is because such decline and the employment/social problems it has created has now come to overshadow the successes of the past. This is particularly problematic for young people, who were born well after the decline set in and so have little understanding or connection with the industrial positives of the past. Therefore, they define their local area by the problems in the present, something which also impacts on how they perceive their (lack of) long-term future in their region. The project’s activities look to address this disconnection between the past, present and future by creating resources which highlight the value of regions’ industrial heritage and the positive legacy this has created for the present/future labour market. This approach will mean that young people’s stereotypes of their region are challenged, as they gain a better understanding of the successes of the past. In turn this will enrich their outlook for future local employment opportunities, something which will mean that they are more enthusiastic and motivated to build a career locally.
To achieve this Metropolis embraces open and innovative digital practices. This is epitomised by the interactive city maps of each chosen region which will be created by the project. These maps will encourage young people to explore their local areas in a new way, by creating educational ‘heritage trails’ which takes them out of the classroom and into the city. These maps will combine facts and information about sites of industrial heritage with interactive content and knowledge checks, all of which will be presented in an engaging, gamified way. As a result, by embracing geo-mapping, mobile digital technology, the project will add an innovative kinesthetic level to learning and guidance for young people. Given that these young people have grown up digitally native, this will help to increase the impact of the project’s engagement with regions’ industrial heritage by presenting information in a medium well-used by young people.
Furthermore, this engagement with both cultural heritage and new digital technology is driven by a desire to address social inclusion within the chosen areas. One of the results of the post-industrial decline seen in these areas has been to create a generation of disenfranchised young people, something which has also had a negative impact on attainment, NEET rates and labour productivity. This is because the negative stereotypes surrounding these areas have impacted on the motivation of many young people to learn and achieve, as they have failed to see the long-term benefits of this. At the same time, these areas have seen a brain drain of those who do achieve as they believe they need to move elsewhere to become successful. Therefore, by realigning young people’s understanding of their local area and helping them to better understand the growth areas of the future, students will be more motivated to gain qualifications and develop skills linked to the needs of the local labour market, as they can see an end goal for this learning. As a result this should help to improve social inclusion, as NEET rates are reduced and young people enter the labour market with qualifications better aligned to the growth employment areas. Whilst this will be particularly effective for the low-skilled, such a change in perception should also help to address brain drain of higher achievers, as all young people are more enthused about their local region.