The Application of the Fifth Discipline Strategies in the Learning City Concept

Abstract

The stone age did not end because there were no more stones, it ended because of continuous improvement, innovation, creativity and learning. Local government has always been around since time immemorial. Even in the Stone Age period there was some form of local government, leaning and continuous improvement. In this DVUCADD environment, an environment characterized by dynamic, volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, diversity and disruptive phenomena, cities should be in a position to employ Peter Senge’s fifth discipline in order to survive and be in a position to learn faster. The Local government in Africa and Zimbabwe in particular has the role of proving a range of vital learning city services delivery for residents and organisations in defined areas. Among them are well known functions such as social services like primary education, libraries, vocational training and recreational facilities. Local government administration has a great role to play in bringing citizenry’s lifelong learning, engagement and participation. This then brings in economic and social development. One of the important aspects that ever happened in our life, is when Peter Senge came up with the fifth discipline that any organisation can apply in order to achieve a learning organisation. These disciplines are personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning and systems thinking. The City of Harare is used as a case study in the application of Peter Senge’s fifth discipline to foster the learning city concept.