LSE Cities’ Research Officer Neil Reeder has written a piece for the Guardian on the role of local government in promoting happiness and well-being.

To read the article, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2013/apr/22/local-government-happiness-wellbeing

“Places where unexpected things happen were rarely designed for those unexpected things to happen” comments Ricky Burdett in the Guardian’s coverage of the campaign to save the skate park on London’s South Bank.

To read the article, click here.

The London School of Economics is launching an innovative programme to engage the humanities with the social and spatial dynamics of cities.

We are seeking dynamic and engaged scholars and practitioners – currently developing their careers in the arts, literature, philosophy or another related field – to contribute to the interdisciplinary work of LSE Cities, an international research centre that explores the interactions between space and society.

The aim of the programme is to allow meaningful intellectual exchange and practical collaboration between the humanities and urbanism. Spending nine months at LSE Cities, the candidate would develop his/her own research in the context of the work on the urban environment carried out by the department. Selection will be made on the basis of original contributions to the field including interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of the past, present and future cultures of the city – through writing, curating, public engagement or other narrative means.

The programme is now open for applications, closing on 19 May 2013 (23:59 UK time).

For full details visit https://lsecities.net/about/mellon/

LSE Cities Executive Director Philipp Rode presented at the 4th International Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, in Mumbai. The forum ran from April 11 to April 13, 2013 and featured keynote speeches from leading experts including David Chipperfield and Brinda Somaya.

You can find out more about the event here: http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1534/4th-forum.htm

In his capacity as Global Distinguished Professor at New York University, Ricky Burdett ran an urban design studio at NYU Wagner School of Planning. The studio, entitled London Going East, focussed on the Royal Docks in East London, one of the fastest changing areas in Europe’s most cosmopolitan city currently undergoing a period of sustained growth. Twelve graduate students proposed alternative development scenarios for London’s largest remaining brownfield site, including higher residential neighbourhoods around a waterside park, reconnecting the Royal Albert Dock with its urban hinterland and creating mixed-use quarter next to the University of East London campus and potential CrossRail station at Custom House. 

Prof Mike Savage of the London School of Economics and Prof Devine of the University of Manchester work with BBC Lab UK on largest-ever survey of social class in Britain. For more details, visit the BBC website.