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I'm Phil Jones, a cultural geographer at the University of Birmingham.
Cities are fantastically complex and diverse places, which act as hubs of creative activity.
My research is particularly concerned with how this urban creativity can be used to improve
social, environmental and economic wellbeing. A key part of this is in changing our understanding
of what we mean by an expert. Traditionally experts have been people like
planners, politicians and even academics. In recent years it has become more common
to acknowledge that residents, communities, people without an official title, can have
a great deal of valuable knowledge, particularly when it comes to redeveloping or regenerating
a neighbourhood. We've been working on a series of tools to help communities tap into their
own expertise, for example developing a smartphone mapping app for local planning. We're also
working with communities to think through how arts-based projects can generate more
engagement with the creative economy to help tackle inequality.
We're collaborating with communities, local government, NGOs and the arts sector to help
cities make best use of their in-built creativity.