Centre for Cities

City Talks: Resolving the Air Pollution Crisis in our Cities

In this month's episode, Andrew explores the topic of air pollution with Caroline Russell, Green Party member of the London Assembly, and Andrea Lee from Client Earth, a group of activist environmental lawyers which is currently challenging the Government's air quality plans in court.

With fatal levels of air pollution responsible for an estimated 40,000 deaths a year in the UK each year, Andrew and his guests consider how our air became so toxic. They examine the effect of tax breaks for diesel vehicles, motor companies cheating emissions tests and the impact of tech giants such as Amazon and Uber on our roads. They also discuss what cities can do to address air pollution, including London’s plan for an Ultra Low Emission Zone to be introduced in 2019. Finally, our guests talk about the role that the new metro mayors can play in raising awareness of air quality and fighting for clean air in their cities.

Before that, Andrew catches up with Centre for Cities' Naomi Clayton and Brian Semple to discuss the latest policy developments, including the Taylor Review's implications for different cities, the future of business rates devolution and what we learnt from Greg Clark's recent speech on industrial strategy.

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City Talks: post-election special with Tony Travers

In this month's post-election special, Andrew reflects on the surprising results with Tony Travers, Director at LSE, considering the changing loyalties of the electorate, what a hung parliament will mean for the new mayors and whether we will start to see a cross-party approach to Brexit.

They also discuss how the electorate has strayed from traditional party loyalties, voting instead to rage against the machine, or as a tool to deliver a message on Brexit or austerity.

The outcome of the General Election leaves Westminster considerably weaker than before. With the DUP set to seal a deal with the government and the Scottish Conservatives winning 13 seats, Northern Ireland and Scotland are in a strong position to make demands, likely to be at the expense of massive progress made in cities over the last two parliaments. But they discuss how the new mayors are in a unique position to drive the country forward and negotiate for their respective cities.

Finally, with austerity now in its eighth year with no sign of an end, they ask whether funding and financing could be handed down to a city level giving councils the freedom to set taxes locally.

Roundtable with Carl Weisbrod, Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission

In the week of his talk at the London Real Estate Conference, Centre for Cities was delighted to host an intimate roundtable with Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, Carl Weisbrod.

Listen to Weisbrod talk about his work with Mayors De Blasio, Bloomberg and Dinkins as well as his time working in private sector development. His successes include transforming Times Square in to the commercial hub we see today, as well as regenerating Hudson Park and leading the post-9/11 recovery. He has also had a frontline role in addressing the problems caused by New York City’s unaffordable housing market.

See all future Centre for City events on our website: http://www.centreforcities.org/

 

City Talks: Mike Emmerich on Britian's Cities, Britain's Future

In this month's podcast, Andrew chats to Mike Emmerich author of 'Britain's Cities, Britain's Future' ex-Treasury civil servant and founding Director of Metro Dynamics.

In the book, Emmerich looks back at the 200-year history of British cities - once the engines of the industrial revolution and an example to other nations - to help better understand how urban Britain of the present, and future, can prosper in a globalised, post-Brexit climate.

Andrew and Mike discuss, the way cities like Manchester's cottonopolis grew and developed, and the formation of their public sectors and institutions. They consider how cultures of entrepreneurship, or an ideology of individualism throughout recent history, could have had an impact on the way British cities have both grown and suffered decline. Finally, they discuss the opportunities and challenges for those cities that have just elected metro mayors.

Before speaking with Mike, Andrew first catches up with Centre for Cities colleagues Paul Swinney and Simon Jeffrey to discuss last week's surprising metro mayor election results and how these powerful new city leaders are likely to take their mandates forward.

City Talks: The Voice of the City - Lessons for the English Metro Mayors

Ahead of the inaugural metro mayor elections taking place in six English city regions, Andrew Carter talks to key staffers in both the Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson mayoral administrations in London – Sir Edward Lister and Neale Coleman. He finds out how the mayors worked, how the Olympics happened, and how having this form of leadership has helped the capital to go from strength to strength.

They also offer key pieces of advice for the English metro mayors to make their first term – and the model itself - a success. How can they make the most of the power they do have to actually change their cities, how can they work with central and local government, and is there really as much politics involved as everyone thinks?

Andrew also talks to Naomi Clayton and Brian Semple about the impact on UK cities of the recently introduced apprenticeship levy and the recently increased national living wage. They also discuss the landscape ahead of next month’s metro mayor race.

 

Event catch up: Greater Manchester metro mayor hustings

Listen again to the Greater Manchester metro mayor hustings held in partnership with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce on 5 April 2017.

From May, Greater Manchester will have a new mayor with powers over transport, planning and skills. The elected metro mayor will have an important opportunity to set out and implement a strategic vision for the economy of the metro area, supporting people, firms and institutions to build a more prosperous Great Manchester in the decades to come.

As the campaign for the election gains momentum and voters become more aware of the new position and its powers, Centre for Cities and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce hosted a hustings for candidates to set out their plans to drive growth in the city-region.

Candidates:

Andy Burnham MP, Labour Party
Cllr Sean Anstee, Conservative Party
Cllr Iain Roberts, Liberal Democrats
Will Patterson, Green

This event was chaired by Alexandra Jones, Chief Executive, Centre for Cities.

 

Event catch up: Liverpool City Region metro mayor hustings

Full audio from our Liverpool City Region metro mayor hustings held in Liverpool on 30th March 2017.

From May, Liverpool City Region will have a new mayor with powers over transport, planning and skills. The new mayor will be given the opportunity to set out and implement a strategic vision for the economy of the metro area, supporting people, firms and institutions to build a more prosperous Merseyside in the decades to come.

As the campaign for the election gains momentum, Centre for Cities and the Liverpool and Sefton Chamber of Commerce organised a hustings for candidates to set out their plans to drive growth in the city-region.

Speakers:

Tony Caldeira, Conservative Party
Carl Cashman, Liberal Democrats
Steve Rotheram MP, Labour
Tabitha Morton, Women’s Equality Party
Tom Crone, Green Party

Event catch up: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough metro mayor hustings

Full audio from our Cambridgeshire and Peterborough metro mayor hustings held in Cambridge on 28th March 2017.

From May, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will have a new mayor with powers over transport, planning and skills. The elected metro mayor will have an important opportunity to set out and implement a strategic vision for the economy of the metro area, supporting people, firms and institutions to build a more prosperous region in the decades to come.

As the campaign for the election gains momentum, Centre for Cities and Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, organised a hustings for candidates to set out their plans to drive growth in the city-region.

Speakers:

Cllr Kevin Price, Labour
Rod Cantrill, Lib Dem
Cllr James Palmer, Conservative
Peter Dawe, Independent

Event catch up: West of England metro mayor hustings

Full audio from our West of England metro mayor hustings held in Bristol on 22nd March 2017.

From May, the West of England will have a new mayor with powers over transport, planning and skills. The elected metro mayor will have an important opportunity to set out and implement a strategic vision for the economy of the metro area, supporting people, firms and institutions to build a more prosperous region in the decades to come.

As the campaign for the election gains momentum, Centre for Cities and Business West organised a hustings for candidates to set out their plans to drive growth in the city-region. This event was kindly hosted by KPMG.

Candidates:

Tim Bowles, Conservative
Lesley Mansell, Labour
Stephen Williams Liberal Democrats
Darren Hall, Green Party
John Savage, Independent

City Talks: How can we achieve inclusive growth?

In this month’s episode, Andrew is first joined by Alexandra Jones (Chief Executive of the Centre) and Naomi Clayton (Policy and Research Manager at the Centre) to discuss what the spring Budget means for cities. Looking at the Government’s business rates relief measures, the introduction of T-levels and the rise of self-employment, the team give their insights on what this means for cities.

The big issue scrutinised in this month’s podcast is how to make growth inclusive? To tackle this tricky question, Andrew Carter is joined by panellists Katie Schmuecker, Head of Policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Dr Neil Lee, Assistant Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE.

They consider what inclusive growth actually means, how it can be achieved and whether it is even desirable. Asking why the majority of people experiencing poverty live in a working household (a staggering figure of 3.8 million people in the UK) Andrew and his guests turn to the UK’s long-standing poor productivity performance compared to some of our competitor nations. With automation on the rise, especially in low skilled sectors such as retail, the panel goes on to consider what the future of work holds and question whether universal basic income is a potential solution.