The Urban Ideas Bakery – Stimulating Social Creativity and Innovation in Cities

Cities are where we are at our best, and worst; cities are home to many of our proudest achievements, but are also where our biggest challenges are to be faced. Problems - including inequality, crime and violence, environmental degradation – thrive as much as learning and culture.  The social challenges facing cities are likely to be exacerbated in the next two years due to the global economic recession, which will lead to rising unemployment, greater demands on public services and tighter public finances.  In Europe, where over 70 per cent of the population now live in urban areas, creativity and innovation are central to addressing the challenges cities face. Europe’s cities need entrepreneurship and innovation to secure their long-term economic, cultural and social prosperity. 

The Urban Ideas Bakery is a set of methods designed to help cities mobilise their creativity to better solve – together – the major challenges they face, from the recession to crime, high carbon emissions to poor education. The aim is to provide a method for urban influencers and innovators to work together to develop and put into practice solutions to urban challenges across Europe, and create a network of people who are active innovators in their cities and open to this approach of sharing and blending ideas. The overall goal is to cultivate a shared understanding about the contribution creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation can make in securing the long-term economic, cultural and social prosperity of cities across Europe. 

The Urban Ideas Bakery is funded by the British Council through their Creative Cities programme.

Breakthrough cities – Young Foundation/British Council report on creativity and social innovation in cities 

 ‘Breakthrough Cities’, a groundbreaking report on how cities can mobilise creativity and knowledge to tackle compelling social challenges, was launched in June 2009, in Prague.

The report is authored by Geoff Mulgan, Charles Leadbeater (established international experts in social innovation and creativity),  Rushanara Ali, Alessandra Buonfino and Lauren Kahn. The report provides a unique resource for anyone working in the field of city policy – policy makers, consultants, public employees, workers in the arts or education sectors, NGOs, or simply private individuals committed to improving city lives. 

Download the report here.

For more information on the publication or the project, please contact: lauren.kahn@youngfoundation.org

The photograph used on this page was taken from Flickr, a photo-sharing website. It allows it's users to offer their work to others under a Creative Commons license. The photo of Oslo is credited to Bernt Rostad.