Range of officials from South Korea, including city Mayors, are visiting Preston to find out more about community wealth building
A delegation of senior South Korean officials is set to visit the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) on Thursday 27 April, as part of a wider fact-finding mission in Lancashire about the Preston Model.
The Preston Model is a successful model of social and economic reform that has been spearheaded by Preston City Council and UCLan. It’s a term that covers how the council, its anchor institutions and other partners are implementing the principles of community wealth building within Preston and the wider Lancashire area.
The Model has received international attention, and UCLan’s Professor Julian Manley – a world-leading expert on the Model - will be hosting an event for the South Korean delegation, alongside UCLan academics Professor Philip Whyman and Dr Giannis Prinos. The conference will bring together stakeholders and researchers for a series of stimulating and thought-provoking presentations and discussions about the possibilities of applying such a model in a different cultural context, such as Korea.
The delegation from South Korea includes policy makers and mayors, and UCLan Vice-Chancellor Graham Baldwin will open the conference alongside Mayor of Anyang-si Choi Dae-ho. A series of presentations will then follow, with UCLan academics and others – including speakers from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of Liverpool – discussing different aspects of the Preston Model from a research perspective, including social value and public health.
As an anchor institution, UCLan is a significant contributor to the Preston Model, with research, educational and cultural roles to play. One key point the event’s speakers hope to demonstrate is that the Preston Model provides a careful balance between economic and social benefits: economic gain is not prioritised but is held in equilibrium with the social values and benefit inherent in the model.
The conference will also give the South Korean delegation a chance to speak about projects in their own country, giving us a chance to learn about different global approaches to community wealth building.
While in Preston, the visitors from Korea will also be spending some time with Preston City Council, to find out more about how the model works from the council’s perspective.
UCLan’s event is open to all, running between 2pm and 5.30pm on Thursday 27th April in the Darwin Lecture Theatre: you can book your spot here.
