Metropolis! The future of cities
How cities are evolving, their economic and cultural influence and what effect the pandemic has had on urban patterns of living and work
One of the issues which fascinates me at the moment is the future of the city. It’s one of the reasons I was so pleased that Pivot Point was able to partner with the Centre for London to work on their long-term London Futures project, which has already provided some major themes for consideration and discussion and will continue to do so.
One of the book in my to-read pile that I’m most eager to get to is The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running The World by Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman and Obama’s fearsome chief of staff who left Washington to seek election as mayor of his hometown, Chicago. He succeeded the legendary Richard M. Daley, who had been mayor for 22 years, and whose father, the equally legendary Richard J. Daley, had spent 21 years in City Hall. The reason I’m so keen to read it is that its manifesto, that cities are the engine of our future prosperity and that civic leaders are destined for great roles in politics, seems instinctively right to me.
The creation of an elected mayor of London has established a new pole in UK politics. Whoever holds that office is likely to hold the biggest personal electoral mandate in the country, and is inevitably going to be a significant figure on the national stage. Ken Livingstone enjoyed a late flowering of his career as ‘father of the capital’; Boris Johnson used City Hall to boost his standing in the Conservative Party and, eventually, to seize the keys to Downing Street; and Sadiq Khan has stayed sufficiently in touch with Labour politics that he is almost invariably mentioned as a future party leader.
Cities are hubs of business, commerce, industry, culture, arts. They create wealth and pull in huge populations, and they bring with them both particularly urban problems and innovative solutions. They are what drives our society forward.
I have written about urban issues quite a lot recently, so here I wanted to draw together those articles into a convenient place, a thesaurus, if you like, for anyone who shares my fascination with the urban organism. If that is you, do browse. It’s a theme I will return to again and again, and hopefully one I can tackle at greater length some time in the future.
“Apple leads the way as the high street unlocks”, LinkedIn, 15 June 2020
“Commuting in the post-Covid world”, City AM, 3 July 2020
“Wanted: A plan to save London”, City AM, 7 August 2020
“From the modern Babylon to the city of canals: Eurostar goes to Amsterdam”, City AM, 26 August 2020
“London transport freedom passes for all - but at what cost?”, City AM, 11 September 2020
“A New Look for high street retail? Here’s what matters in the Covid-19 world”, City AM, 16 September 2020
“Mayor 2.0: London deserves a leader who can punch at the capital’s weight”, City AM, 14 October 2020
“Deal or no deal, reports of London’s death are greatly exaggerated”, City AM, 23 October 2020
“Smart politicians will be looking to cities as a springboard for greatness”, City AM, 12 January 2021
“Red Light: why Streetscape decision is a speed bump for mayor’s ambition”, City AM, 28 January 2021
“From freeports to relocating the Treasury, the Tories are hell-bent on turning the North East blue”, Daily Telegraph, 4 March 2021
“Is Sadiq Khan’s re-election as mayor inevitable?”, City AM, 22 March 2021
“Capital exports: London should have its own diplomats in every UK embassy to make Britain truly global”, City AM, 4 May 2021
“An unholy alliance between the Tories, Greens and Lib Dems could hold Sadiq Khan’s feet to the fire”, City AM, 17 May 2021
“Thinking around corners on UK rental market could transform life for the better”, City AM, 1 June 2021