Monthly Archives: September 2017

New report reveals huge social value of London’s high streets

29 September 2017

A new report from LSE Cities and We Made That, commissioned by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has revealed the fundamental role high streets play in delivering economic, social and environmental benefits to Londoners. High Streets for All (pdf) was produced as a response to Mayor Sadiq Khan’s call for a City for All Londoners. The report explores the threats to the capital’s high streets as well as their value and offers a series of key recommendations to strengthen and support them in the future. This methodology built on the LSE Cities’ Super-diverse Streets research project, led by Suzanne Hall, Cities Programme Director. Together with existing knowledge and new primary research, the study used this evidence to set out the strategic case for advocacy, intervention and investment in London’s high streets.

The report uses existing data and new research to examine London’s 602 high streets. Burnt Oak in north west London, Lewisham High Street in the south and Lower Clapton Road in the north east were examined in particular to represent the effects of different demographics, varying house prices and the physical changes to their built environment.

New Multicriteria Model to Assess the Quality of Local Governance

Nuno Ferreira Da Cruz, Research Fellow at LSE Cities and Rui Cunha Marques from the University of Lisbon have published “An Application of a
Multicriteria Model to Assess the Quality of Local Governance in SAGE. The article presents a method to assess the quality of local governance. Portuguese municipalities are used to illustrate the potential of the “Municipal Governance Indicator”, which uses a multicriteria decision analysis modeling approach.

Video: Ricky Burdett comparing Seoul and London

28 September 2017

Professor Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities, delivered the keynote at the opening of the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in Seoul on 1 September. urbanNext recorded the talk on Global Cities: London and Seoul (video).  The Seoul Biennale, which runs from 2 September to 5 November 2017 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), is introduced by Dynamics of the Urban Age, an exhibition that highlights the spatial and social consequences of dramatic urban growth in cities across the world.

Nuno Ferreira Da Cruz to speak on public private infrastructure in cities

27 September 2017

Nuno Ferreira Da Cruz, Research Fellow at LSE Cities and Carlos Oliveira Cruz, University of Lisbon will deliver a presentation on “Research on public private infrastructure projects” at a CELSIUS workshop looking at risk in the funding of infrastructure projects. The workshop will take place at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 28th September 2017.

LSE Cities to present research at Cities and Climate Conference

19 September 2017

The 2017 Cities and Climate Conference will take place from September 19-21 in Potsdam, Germany. The conference, the last in a series relating to the RAMSES (Reconciling Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development for cities) project, will explore the latest advances in research and practice addressing climate change in cities, including issues of infrastructure, planning, governance, economics of adaptation, risk management, and their possible trade-offs and synergies with mitigation and sustainability objectives.

LSE Cities’ Executive Director, Philipp Rode will present research findings alongside Graham Floater, Principal Research Fellow, and Alexandra Gomes and Muhammad Adeel who are both Research Officers at LSE Cities. LSE Cities is one of 13 project partners in the  European research project.

Philipp Rode presents Resource Urbanisms research at ETH Zurich

8 September 2017

Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities presented “Resource Urbanisms: Natural resources, urban form and infrastructure in the case of Asia’s diverging city models” at ETH Zurich’s Future Cities Laboratory on 7 September 2017. Resource Urbanisms is a two-year LSE Cities research project co-funded by LSE Kuwait Programme/LSE Middle East Centre that examines multiple aspects of how natural resources, urban form and infrastructure affect each other and potentially lead to the establishment of divergent forms of urbanism. The project compares Kuwait and Abu Dhabi (a second Middle East comparator case) and two contrasting city types in East Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

 

 

Philipp Rode to deliver keynote at International Housing Forum

6 September 2017

Executive Director of LSE Cities, Philipp Rode will deliver a keynote at the International Housing Forum 2017 in Singapore on 7 September 2017. “Efficiency by Design: Urban Growth, Housing and Transport” will explore the relationship land and energy resources have with city form, urban dwelling and mobility. It will analyse these relationships through a comparative case study approach which investigates extreme and divergent city models globally, and considers potential future challenges of housing in cities.

Symposium on whether shared working spaces drive inequality in cities

“Urban Incubators, Innovation and Inequality: Sharing and Work in Divided Cities” will explore how innovation and inequality is associated with emerging shared workspace in London. The symposium will investigate possible overlaps across different sectors of urban work, and outline implications for policy. The symposium is organised by Suzanne Hall, Director of LSE’s Cities Programme and Max Nathan, Senior Birmingham Fellow in Regional Economic Development, University of Birmingham. It will take place at LSE on 14 September from 9.30 to 13.30 and is sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and hosted by LSE Cities. If you’d like to participate in the symposium, please email LSE.Cities@lse.ac.uk.

 

 

 

Philipp Rode hosts exhibition at Seoul Biennale

4 September 2017

Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities has curated Moving Parts: How the Design of Vehicles Shapes Cities. The exhibition explores the links between vehicle design, operation, urban form, and city life. The exhibition asks if car design, which is now widely accepted to have failed the city on an unimaginable scale, could result in good urbanism in the future. It can be viewed at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism  from 2 September to 5 November 2017.

LSE students to support Brent Council Growth Strategy

Brent Council has selected seven London School of Economics and Political Science students who recently completed their urban-based degrees to help define their long-term Growth Strategy. The majority of students completed either an MSc City Design in Social Science or MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies. The strategy will help the local council respond to many of the growth challenges affecting London. The city’s growing population requires 50,000 new homes each year, together with significant physical and social infrastructure, to accommodate and support this growth. Brent’s population alone is due to increase 20% to 380,000 by 2036.

The strategy will examine how growth affects the economy, housing, infrastructure, education, health, environment and culture, and propose evidence-based policy responses. Brent will use the strategy to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities presented by London’s growth. The students are Bridget Ackeifi, León Díaz-Bone, Rosie Havener, Patricia Mijares-Chavez, Macarena Plaza, Oliver Tovatt and Janai Gilmore.