Image source: NASA
Read David Narum’s guest column in the Times Standard on how play stimulates innovation. Insightful food for thought…plus an introduction to a new member of the innovation team: Thak the caveman.
Find the article here.
Sir Ken Robinson, famous for his TED Talk on how schools kill creativity, notes that “We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it’s an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”
As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, Town and Gown issues are not just a challenge, they also present significant opportunities for economic development, community building and positive change. These ideas are being developed in our backyard through partnerships with Humboldt State University, but they are applicable in rural towns that have colleges and universities all across the country.
“Without question, the most abundant, least expensive, most under-utilized, and constantly abused resource in the world is human ingenuity.” (Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of VISA, The Art of Chaordic Leadership)
One of the key functions of the Link, currently in development here at Greenway, is to create the conditions that support human ingenuity, to motivate people to become active designers of ventures, and to develop a culture of knowledge sharing as we work together to build ventures, create jobs, and grow a greener regional economy. An important part of this effort is the development of partnerships and the creation of value-adding connections. One critical partnership is that between “town and gown”—between communities and regions and the institutions of education located in them.
The relationship between a university or college and the community that hosts it – commonly referred to as the “town-gown” relationship – is usually a complicated one. Decisions made for one entity can have major impacts on the other. There are hundreds of examples, some even leading to litigation, where these two interconnected organizations have failed to avoid and resolve conflict. Issues such as parking impacts, development of new facilities, and the frequency and duration of campus events are common sources of conflict.
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