<< Objectives >>The transition to an ecological future is a growing priority for all sectors of society and has a direct impact on all of those involved in communications and marketing. The partners engaged in the Beecom project will create a multilingual educational resource targeted at all of those involved in communications. This resource will allow communicators to integrate eco-responsibility into their practice, reduce the environmental impact of their communications, and support an ecological transition.<< Implementation >>Our partnership has a broad range of skills in data research, copywriting, media, creativity and event organisation; the Beecom project will leverage these skills to deliver a concrete set of outcomes including:A toolkit of methodologies and best practice in responsible communications;An online training platform with written and audiovisual explations of both theory, and practice; A face-to-face training programme that can be used in schools and colleges delivering courses on communication.<< Results >>Through a powerful educational toolkit and programme in English, French and Spanish, the Beecom project will aim to reach around 5,000 people directly and support them in integrating responsible communications into their everyday practice. This cohort will include communications professionals, teachers and students; we will reach those employed in communications and volunteers. Through our online and offline dissemination strategy this audience reach will increase considerably over time.

Our cities are in crisis. There are real uncertainties about issues such as austerity, economic growth, diversity and sustainability. Most people are beginning to recognise that existing ways of working aren't delivering benefits for the people who need them most. Citizens and third sector organisations are often left out of the picture as formal urban partnerships spend their energies negotiating with central government. Local expertise, innovation and creativity have often not been seen as part of the answer to our urban crisis. But we can see that there are people and organisations taking action locally and coming up with different kinds of solutions. Jam and Justice is a novel project that seeks to address wicked urban problems through collaborative working on messy solutions. 'Jam' is about trying to bring together different constituencies in the city to experiment and innovate to address our shared problems. 'Justice' is about re-connecting with those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from the search for solutions. We want to create an Action Research Cooperative - or 'ARC'. The ARC is a space which will allow a different way of thinking about how to work together to address 21st century urban challenges. Researchers know some of the answers, citizens have other ideas and solutions and insights, practitioners bring yet another perspective, and political leaders have visions for how they want things to be. The ARC will bring these different groups together to co-develop innovative approaches to address complex urban governance problems. The ARC is made by the people who take part in it: academics, politicians, practitioners, citizens and activists. Some of us will try and play more than one role, for example as practitioner researchers and academic-activists. We want to use the ARC to help us bridge the gap between knowledge and action and to shape the action which we can take together. First, the ARC will set the principles for how we want to work together. Then we will initiate a series of 'learn and do' projects, which will generate the primary data needed to answer the research questions: what sorts of new ways to govern the city-region can help transform the debate? How can we include voices that have been neglected previously? Who can help mediate between different groups and interests? We will open up the opportunities to be part of the ARC not only through our projects, but also through a creative social engagement programme, including live debates, online communities, blogs and podcasts. We are going to tell people what we are up to right from the start, so they can follow, share and engage with our work. We will be holding a range of public and special interest events, where people can hear about and become part of the project. So where is this all going to happen? We are going to start in a place we know, working with people who share a commitment to urban transformation. We will build the ARC in Greater Manchester, a place right on the cusp of change, as the first English city-region to be negotiating more devolution of powers from central government. Greater Manchester is a unique test-bed for our research interests, a city-region where we can further academic knowledge and deliver high policy and practitioner relevance. We have already identified key partners across the public, voluntary and community sector in Greater Manchester who want to work with us in the ARC. We will also network with national organisations and learn from what is happening around the world through fieldtrips to Chicago, Paris, Melbourne, Cape Town and Scotland. The ARC is a unique space for social innovation to co-produce, test and learn from new ways of governing cities. This will help us critically reflect on how to organise knowledge better to make positive urban transformations happen that are inclusive and equitable.

Our cities are in crisis. There are real uncertainties about issues such as austerity, economic growth, diversity and sustainability. Most people are beginning to recognise that existing ways of working aren't delivering benefits for the people who need them most. Citizens and third sector organisations are often left out of the picture as formal urban partnerships spend their energies negotiating with central government. Local expertise, innovation and creativity have often not been seen as part of the answer to our urban crisis. But we can see that there are people and organisations taking action locally and coming up with different kinds of solutions. Jam and Justice is a novel project that seeks to address wicked urban problems through collaborative working on messy solutions. 'Jam' is about trying to bring together different constituencies in the city to experiment and innovate to address our shared problems. 'Justice' is about re-connecting with those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from the search for solutions. We want to create an Action Research Cooperative - or 'ARC'. The ARC is a space which will allow a different way of thinking about how to work together to address 21st century urban challenges. Researchers know some of the answers, citizens have other ideas and solutions and insights, practitioners bring yet another perspective, and political leaders have visions for how they want things to be. The ARC will bring these different groups together to co-develop innovative approaches to address complex urban governance problems. The ARC is made by the people who take part in it: academics, politicians, practitioners, citizens and activists. Some of us will try and play more than one role, for example as practitioner researchers and academic-activists. We want to use the ARC to help us bridge the gap between knowledge and action and to shape the action which we can take together. First, the ARC will set the principles for how we want to work together. Then we will initiate a series of 'learn and do' projects, which will generate the primary data needed to answer the research questions: what sorts of new ways to govern the city-region can help transform the debate? How can we include voices that have been neglected previously? Who can help mediate between different groups and interests? We will open up the opportunities to be part of the ARC not only through our projects, but also through a creative social engagement programme, including live debates, online communities, blogs and podcasts. We are going to tell people what we are up to right from the start, so they can follow, share and engage with our work. We will be holding a range of public and special interest events, where people can hear about and become part of the project. So where is this all going to happen? We are going to start in a place we know, working with people who share a commitment to urban transformation. We will build the ARC in Greater Manchester, a place right on the cusp of change, as the first English city-region to be negotiating more devolution of powers from central government. Greater Manchester is a unique test-bed for our research interests, a city-region where we can further academic knowledge and deliver high policy and practitioner relevance. We have already identified key partners across the public, voluntary and community sector in Greater Manchester who want to work with us in the ARC. We will also network with national organisations and learn from what is happening around the world through fieldtrips to Chicago, Paris, Melbourne, Cape Town and Scotland. The ARC is a unique space for social innovation to co-produce, test and learn from new ways of governing cities. This will help us critically reflect on how to organise knowledge better to make positive urban transformations happen that are inclusive and equitable.

This unique consortium draws on the research excellence of interdisciplinary and complementary design innovation labs at three universities - Lancaster University, Newcastle University and the Royal College of Art and connects it with public and private sectors, linking large and small-scale businesses, service providers and citizens. Together, our expertise in developing and applying creative techniques to navigate unexplored challenges includes that of designers, artists, curators, producers, broadcasters, engineers, managers, technologists and writers - and draws on wider expertise from across the partner universities and beyond. The Creative Exchange responds to profound changes in practice in the creative and media-based industries stimulated by the opening of the digital public space, the ability of everyone to access, explore and create in any aspect of the digital space, moving from 'content consumption' to 'content experience'. It explores new forms of engagement and exchange in the broadcast, performing and visual arts, digital media, design and gaming sectors, by focusing on citizen-led content, interactive narrative, radical personalization and new forms of value creation in the context of the 'experience economy'. The primary geographic focus is the Northwest of England centred around the opportunity presented by the growth of MediaCityUK and its surrounding economy. The three universities act as local test beds with field trials in London, Lancaster and Newcastle prior to larger public facing trials in the northwest. This will support the North West regional strategy for growth in digital and creative media industries, whilst generating comparative research and development locally, nationally and internationally. The Creative Exchange has been developed in response to a paradigm shift in content creation and modes of distribution in a digitally connected world, which has profound impact for the arts and humanities. This transformational-change is taking place within the landscape of a growing digital public space that includes archives, data, information and content. How we navigate and experience this space - and how we generate content for and within it - is central to how we create economic, social, cultural and personal value. The Hub draws on new and agile approaches to knowledge exchange for the creative economy that have been previously developed by the partner universities and new ones co-developed with specialist arts organizations, sector organizations and communities of users.