Abstract
If cities, in the global age, are to address the twin tasks of urban regeneration and social inclusion they will require a renaissance in learning. This challenge is to develop the capabilities for citizens to become active participants in remaking the communities in which they live and work. While much public policy focuses upon the skills young people will need to enter and survive in the labour market, less emphasis is accorded to the significance of encouraging them to find the voice and practices of cooperative agency indispensable to flourishing within a democratic civil society. This paper elaborates an argument being developed in five Education Action Zones (EAZs). The Zones are a policy initiative designed to create the new forms of governance - learning communities of partnership and voluntary participation - that can develop the capabilities citizens need for the task of regenerating civil society.