Sustainability is a disputed term and concept, interpreted and imagined differently according to local urban contexts and histories. Although the term is used extensively across academia, professional and popular debate, there are often conflicting and contradictory understandings, creating a barrier to wider adoption of 'sustainable development' strategies. Meanwhile, although environmentalism and climate change are established areas of interest in the fine art field more complex meanings and understandings of sustainability have not been fully explored within urban public art practice. As an interdisciplinary project that connects the debates of fine art and urban design, Jetty investigates how a contemporary public artwork can meaningfully contribute to the reshaping of this multi-layered debate. The project is developed as a collaboration between artist Wolfgang Weileder based at Newcastle University School of Arts and Culture, and urbanist Simon Guy, Director of the Architecture Research Centre at the University of Manchester, with additional project partners from the arts, heritage, education and business community. At the heart of the Jetty project is the creation of a temporary large-scale architectural artwork integrated within the impressive wooden structure of Dunston Staithes, a landmark Scheduled Monument and Grade II structure on the south bank of the River Tyne in NewcastleGateshead. In developing the project the academic partners will work closely with Tyne and Wear Preservation Trust, the owner of Dunston Staithes as part of its initiative to provide a long-term and sustainable future for the structure. The artwork will be constructed in collaboration with trainees and specialist staff from Newcastle College Construction Skills Academy and RBAU Sunderland, providing an innovative opportunity for skills exchange for the benefit of young people entering the construction industry. Throughout its development and exhibition the Jetty artwork will be utilised as a catalyst for research and debate into local and professional meanings, interpretations and understandings of sustainability. Activity will focus on three distinct communities of interest considered to be at the centre of this discussion: the artistic community, including artists, commissioners and curators; urban professionals, including landscape and urban designers, architects, planners and policy makers; and members of the geographic community of NewcastleGateshead, including residents, community and local interest groups. Involvement of these groups will be achieved through a combination of focus groups, individual interviews, an international symposium, online activity, and as audiences for the public exhibition of the artwork. The knowledge gained through this project will be widely disseminated to local, national and international audiences via a range of activities including: the site-specific installation at Dunston Staithes; the Jetty project website; an interdisciplinary symposium hosted by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; publication of the Jetty book; co-authoring of academic articles for high-impact and relevant research journals; presentations at national and international conferences for artistic and urban professional communities. As a research project and case study, Jetty will benefit academics and practitioners working within the fine art, urbanism and heritage fields, providing new insights into the meanings, understanding and implications of sustainability across these different sectors. Through engagement with local communities and audiences in NewcastleGateshead Jetty will contribute to the cultural and social regeneration of the city, promoting it as a site for sustainable arts practice.

The aim of the project is to produce a digital kitchen that speaks to the user in French, (or other language) and gives instructions on how to prepare a French dish. Sensors are attached to all equipment so that each time an item is correctly or incorrectly moved, participants can be given appropriate verbal feedback and further instructions.This project adapts the technology of our existing Ambient Kitchen for communication with people with dementia and adapts it to the field of language learning. Participants are equipped with a headset and microphone and can request a repetition or a translation of what the kitchen is saying to them. A situated language learning session will take students through the cooking instructions step-by-step, as is receives evidence from the sensors that the participants have carried out the stages of the task. In addition to verbal instructions and feedback, these are provided in writing on a large font digital display with translation facility. Prior to the task, a video is shown of the food being prepared, together with audio and text in the foreign language. Assessment of task completion will be both continuous, using the kitchen's sensors to detect and evaluate appropriate activity, and post-test, through an analysis of acquired vocabulary and structures. Once designed, the kitchen will be trialled in an authentic training setting, namely in one of Newcastle College's large training kitchens. Students from both the Catering and French departments will use the kitchens to develop their linguistic and culinary skills. The design of the kitchen and related software will develop through user input and result in a fully trialled kitchen, which will be installed in the National Centre for Languages (CILT) in London, the Government's recognised centre of expertise on foreign language learning. CILT's role will be as the primary dissemination and exploitation partner and their staff will demonstrate the kitchen to visitors. The pedagogical design of this study employs Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT), a well-established approach to language learning which prompts learners to achieve a goal or complete a task. Much like real-world tasks, such as asking for directions, TBLT seeks to develop students' language through providing a task and then using language to solve it. This project provides an opportunity for language learning to be combined with the completion of a motivating real-world task in an authentic setting (college catering kitchens) using the latest technology. It therefore offers the opportunity of taking the excellent research-based pedagogical principles and procedures developed by TBLT over the years out of the classroom and into use in real-world applications.In terms of the broader social context, the pedagogical design of the situated language learning system is intended to create a transferable, interdisciplinary model of task-based, situated learning which can be applied to many different technological settings and many different skill and knowledge sets. A significant challenge for the UK is how to employ the available digital technology to upgrade the skills of its workforce in a rapidly changing world. A specific challenge is how to improve the declining foreign language proficiency of the British workforce. The number of pupils gaining a GCSE in a foreign language has decreased significantly, whilst a recent British Academy report discussed concerns that the future of the UK's world-class research base might be threatened by the decline in modern language learning. The language learning and spoken interaction aspects of the project will be led by Prof Paul Seedhouse and the technological aspect will be handled by Prof Patrick Olivier, who developed the existing Ambient Kitchen for communication with people with dementia.