LSE Cities and the Brookings Institution have carried out new research on how cities and metropolitan areas are responding to current economic challenges. Ricky Burdett will discuss how selected European and Asian cities - Torino, Barcelona, Munch and Seoul - have overcome crises in the recent past and shown significant progress in urban economic development over the past two decades.

Bruce Katz will outline a vision of the next American economy, one that is driven by exports, powered by low carbon, fueled by innovation and rich with opportunity and led by major metropolitan areas, which concentrate the nation’s economic assets. This will include connecting lessons of economic restructuring from abroad to the challenges facing US metros.

A central finding of the research is that cities will continue to play a critical role in creating and sustaining stable economies that foster social inclusion and environmental equity, but only if metropolitan governance is active and aligned, and cities continue to invest in social capital, job creation and quality of place.