One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the different occupations are able to work together effectively, combining expertise, knowledge and experience to transform communities into places where people want to live and work, now and in the future.
For example, the planner needs to interact with the residents' association. The highway engineer has to be able to work with the urban designer. The economist needs to consult more with local businesses. The government officials planning hospitals and schools must be confident they can work with those who'll be maintaining the surrounding streets and buildings in ten years' time.
At the moment this kind of working is not happening enough. This is mainly due to:
- Skills gaps. There are too few people with the right skills to create and maintain successful, vibrant communities. Not in terms of technical skills but generic skills like leadership, community engagement, project management, partnership working and communication.
It is these generic skills that underpin the technical and specialist expertise, helping people to overcome obstacles and leading to a greater understanding of how to make communities sustainable.
As well as skills gaps, there is growing evidence of significant skills shortages:
- For example, there has been a decline in the number of applications for engineering undergraduate degree courses.
- The age structure of some professions means that a large number of professionals may retire over the next decade*, professionals such as town planners, civil engineers and building services engineers.
The ASC was established to target these shortages. Our goal is to build a centre of excellence for the skills and knowledge needed to create sustainable communities. Our new approach focuses on integrated learning and the latest thinking to ensure that there are sufficient people with the right skills and knowledge to deliver and maintain vibrant and prosperous communities nationally and internationally.
* Source The Egan Review: Skills for Sustainable Communities, April 2004
