Nations of Towns webinar - 25th & 26th Nov. 2021
Ireland and Scotland are nations of towns. Towns play a critical role in the physical, cultural, social and economic life of both nations, and will be key to a just transition to a post-pandemic, post-carbon and post-Brexit future. UCD Centre for Irish Towns (CfIT) and The University of Edinburgh's Futures Institute have formed a new collaboration, Nations of Towns, to work on shared challenges in relation to towns in Scotland and Ireland.
A joint webinar was held in March 2021, involving academics and researchers from both institutions along with important figures from design practice and local government in both nations. A short film of the event along with recordings of the six invited talks can be viewed (opens in a new window)here.
A second event was held on 25th and 26th November 2021 with the aim of generating ideas for cross-border, trans-disciplinary research and knowledge exchange projects. The event included presentations from Iain Scott and Orla Murphy on the policy context in both Ireland and Scotland, presentations on the Coastal Communities Adapting Together (CCAT) project by Philip Crowe and on the Mobility, Mood and Place project by Iain Scott, and a presentation on research funding by Caitriona Devery. Recordings can be viewed on the (opens in a new window)CfIT YouTube channel. The event also included interactive workshops in small groups with a range of stakeholders investigating the potential for cross-border, trans-disciplinary research and KE projects.
The event aimed to address the following questions:
• What research questions would we like to address in relation to towns in Scotland and Ireland.
• What disciplines and stakeholders would ideally be involved in the project?
• What form might a research or knowledge exchange projects take in addressing the questions asked and where might be located?
Following on from the second workshop, there will be a critical assessment of the outcomes by the Nations of Towns team with a view to identifying which questions and projects have the potential to be progressed into real bids for research funding, along with invitations to members of the relevant research team.