The Launch

City Vision 2050

We are pleased to announce that the City Vision 2050 report is now complete! The report summarises the results of the discussions at the workshops held earlier this year. It also makes some broad recommendations as to how the City's quality of life and prosperity can be maintained over the coming decades.

The report can be accessed via the Transport and Sustainability webpage and will soon be shared on the City of London's social media pages. We will also be sending out electronic copies to all who attended the workshops.

We are eager to hear your thoughts on the document. If you have any comments please use the comments box below or email us at transportandsustainability@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Following the success of this process, the Transport and Sustainability Forum is looking to develop a number of projects that help the City of London Corporation and others in engaging businesses and residents in the delivery of a variety of programmes which meet the challenges identified in the report. Further updates on these programmes will be posted in due course.



Events in the City

The Barbican is currently running the City Visions Film Festival - a series of films, talks and debates, exploring the ways in which cinema has engaged with the phenomenon of the modern city and the experience of urban life. The event links well to the City Vision 2050 report, particularly in terms of culture and the arts, that is soon to be released. Events are running until 8th October. For further information please go to the web link below.

http://bit.ly/1uBet6y

CITY VISION 2050

CITY OF LONDON RESIDENTS MEETING

Simon Barnes, the Chair of the Transport and Sustainability Forum, presented the findings from the City Vision 2050 project at the City of London annual City Resident's Meeting. This took place on Monday 23rd June at the Guildhall. 

Both the lunchtime and evening sessions went well. The majority of the questions during the main presentations were aimed towards the City of London Corporation Officers. We had some new Forum Members sign up at the event which we can welcome at the next meeting in November. 

We had a table with handouts manned by Lucy to answer any questions about the Forum and the City Vision 2050 project. This also had the three YouTube videos being played on a continuous loop and was an opportunity for Residents to sign up and join the Transport and Sustainability Forum.

Update on the City Vision 2050 report

We are currently hard at work typing up the results and collating it into a succinct document. Gensler have agreed to help us with the graphics, design and format. This report will contextualise the City of London, identify the challenges and propose the recommendations raised during the workshops. 

Once this is finished we will add it to the Transport and Sustainability Forum webpage and email out to Forum members.

Please do contact us if you would like a copy to read. 

A massive thank you goes to all the workshop hosts and attendees for making this project such a success! 

...is vibrant and culturally rich 
CITY VISION 2050

The '...is vibrant and culturally rich' workshop took place on Tuesday 27th May hosted by the Museum of London. This was attended by around 30 people, representing different sectors such as business, retail, education and culture. The workshop created space and opportunity for discussion to be had around how participants would like to see culture, heritage and the arts to look like in 2050. 

The session started with a couple of small presentations, the first by the Futurologist, Richard Watson, and the second from two of the Content Creators at the Museum of London. The group discussion revolved around the following questions:

Knowing what we know now and looking ahead… 

1. Barriers: What are the barriers for culture and leisure in the City? How do we break them down?

2. Thinking Differently: What do we need to do to free up thinking and do things differently to allow vibrancy and richness to flourish?

3. Relevance & Resilience: How do we meet the challenges of relevance, resilience and sustainability across the cultural offer?

The Content Creators’ presentation attempted to illustrate how culture, heritage and the arts are a depository of past futures and that the future cannot be predicted too precisely. This idea was conveyed with the stories associated with a couple of exhibits - a Roman axe head from 47AD – this dated back to when Iceni Queen Boudicca destroyed the City of London, a brick from Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of London started and a Toshiba laptop from 1995. Each exhibit demonstrated how when they existed the future could not be visioned too clearly, for example, who would have know that the City of London would have been engulfed by the Great Fire of London on 2nd September 1666?

These 'artefacts' were also to remind participants that what people want to see in museums is changing; culture, heritage and the arts are not only about the past, but the present and the future too.

Lots of interesting discussion was had, again, linking to previous workshops. The need for youth involvement and embrace a technological reform - the way in which people 'do' culture is changing, whether it be through the digital medium or paying for 'exclusive' events.

Watch the YouTube clip from the session to see a snippet from the session and hear some of the participants' views.

This was workshop number five of five for the City Vision 2050 project, so we are now going to get cracking with pulling it all together. Simon Barnes, the Chairman of the Transport and Sustainability Forum, will present the conclusions of the workshops at the City Resident's Meeting on Monday 23rd June.

Please post a comment or email if you have any suggestions for the project or anything to add or would like to attend the City Resident's Meeting at the Guildhall in June!

'...is safer and stronger'

Thursday 1st May the Safer City Partnership hosted the ‘…is safer and stronger’ workshop. Several scenarios were explored during the group discussions following a series of short scene setting presentations.

PwC, KPMG and Deloitte all kindly started the morning off by presenting scene setting information around global megatrends, business resilience, infrastructure resilience and changes in threats, security and criminality.

The scenarios were as follows –

1. Security threats and crime trends

- How will new security threats change the way people behave and interact with one another?

- How will these changes be impact on the fabric of the City?

2. Business and community resilience

- How will the change in the way businesses operate impact on the sector resilience?

- How will our communities use data and new technologies to take ownership of their risks?

3. Infrastructure resilience

- How will we cope with new vulnerabilities that arise from a more complex interconnected City?

- How will our infrastructure absorb the shocks from extreme severe weather events?

Interesting conversations were had around the need for a flexible, lean adaptive workforce; to move away from short-term plans/investments and towards the idea of ‘long-termism’; to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of younger and older generations and the need to use them to a company’s benefit; and many other aspects.

The next and final workshop focusing on ‘..is vibrant and culturally rich’ will be hosted by the Museum of London on Tuesday 27^th May. If you would like any further information please send transportandsustainability@cityoflondon.gov.uk an email or comment on the blog and we will get back to you.

Please view the video from the session. 

Undeniably, lots of fascinating and thought provoking discussions took place at this workshop which can link to the other City Together Strategy themes. Not long know until the results will be presented at the City Resident’s Meeting at the end of June. Get in touch if you’d like to attend! 

City Vision 2050 ...protects, promotes and enhances our environment

Last Thursday (10^th April 2014) we had Gensler host the ‘…protects, promotes and enhances our environment’ workshop. This session was held over an afternoon with nibbles and drinks afterwards. There were about 30 people that came to the session to share their thoughts, ideas and insights.

The following key contrasting scenarios were considered during the session:

1. EXPANSION – How will the City’s environment change considering:

- The City’s working population doubles or even trebles?

- The City’s boundaries grow east towards Canary Wharf?

- The City grows to absorb the peripheral boundary areas?

- The City builds super tall buildings?

2. RESILIENCE – How will the City’s environment change considering:

- Climate change causes flooding and droughts?

- Renewable energy sectors and carbon trading becomes the main industry.

- The existing sectors of The City leave?

- There is increased pressure on food production?

3. INFRASTRUCTURE – How will the City’s environment change considering:

- The city becomes a car free zone?

- All infrastructure is located in a single loop around the City?

- New technology advances green infrastructure at a rapid rate?

There were lots of interesting discussions around these contrasting scenarios. Undoubtedly there were lots of cross overs with ideas and suggestions. For example, when you think about increasing the resilience to flood risk from a planning perspective, infrastructure and sustainable urban drainage techniques will be considered which links the two scenarios. 

Watch the short video below to see a snippet from the session and hear some of the participants' views.

The results for all of the consultative workshops will be shared at the City Residents’ meeting on Monday 23 June at the Guildhall. 

City of London '...is competitive and promotes opportunity'
Key facts and figures

Green and Tonic have been asked to take the lead on the next City Vision 2050 workshop - '...is competitive and promotes opportunity'. The project looks at how the City of London needs to position itself between now and 2050. This session will look at the business issues surrounding this, and how the City can be competitive and promote opportunity whilst meeting the challenges of increasing urbanisation and need to act in more sustainable ways. 

To understand this challenge, we will be doing a combined wine tasting, speed networking and policy session to come up with a few innovative ideas that the City can consider for how it operates in the future. The following four issues will be considered during this workshop:

1. What does the City need to remain relevant from a business perspective? 

2. What are the transport and infrastructure challenges and opportunities?

3. Building a smarter city - engaging citizens, education and immigration

4. What are the big macro challenges (political, environmental) that exist for the City? 

Background reading, key facts and figures relating to what will be covered during this workshop can be found in the following publications and web pages - 

The London Plan 

The Economic Outlook for London 

Total Tax Contribution of UK Financial Services

The Contribution of Financial and Professional Business Services to the City of London, Greater London and UK Economies

Economy, Employment, Population and Environment statistics

Development and Population 

Population Projection

Employment Workforce Info

City of London Core Strategy Monitoring Paper - Hotel bed space

City of London Core Strategy Monitoring Paper - Offices

City of London Core Strategy Monitoring Paper - Housing

City of London Resident Estimations and Projections

Much more information about the City can be found on the City of London Corporation website. 

CITY VISION 2050: Update on progress

'...supports our communities'

Our programme of workshops kicked off on Friday 14 February with the help of World Cities Networks. The session which focused on the '...supports our communities' theme was attended by around 30 City stakeholders who spent a productive morning looking at the social challenges facing the City out to 2050.

An overview of the workshop can be found here.

Our next two workshops are already in the pipeline these are:

'...is competitive and promotes opportunity'

Green and Tonic, a City based networking group for sustainability professionals, will be taking the lead for this City Together theme on Wednesday 19th March 2014.

'...protects, promotes and enhances our environment'

Gensler, an architecture, design, planning and consulting firm, will be hosting this theme on Thursday 10th April 2014.

Mind mapping tool

Biggerplate are producing real time mind maps during each of the five consultative workshops. This is a valuable tool which captures the discussions in a visual format. The mind map that captures the 'communities' workshop can be found here.

For more information...

Please get in contact via email if you would like to share your thoughts and insights or would like further information about the City Vision 2050 process.

...supporting our communities

World Cities Network has been invited by the City of London to facilitate the ‘communities’ theme. This will focus on how changing demographics - such as an aging population, immigration and cost of living may impact on the City.

“Developing a vision for the City of London is an enormously important task which can guide us in delivering a bright future for all our communities. Your contribution and involvement is greatly appreciated.” 

Fiona Woolf CBE, Lord Mayor

OBJECTIVES

• To collate and communicate the perspectives of a representative group of private, public, and civil society groups of the challenges, opportunities, and recommended action plans
• To provide an opportunity for discussion and debate of the key actions that the City should consider to ensure the City remains world class and builds upon its success over the long term
• To deliver a report to the City that accurately records the perspectives and the discussion and helps shape future policies for the City and London more broadly

COMMUNITIES INVOLVED

Groups and individuals that are invited to participate include businesses of all sizes, livery companies, public and health bodies, faith groups, voluntary group, residents and charities.

SCOPE

The main aim is to consider the needs and aspirations of different generations of people. Areas covered will include all aspects of community life including future housing and community facilities, health & wellbeing, safety and welfare, and issues such as:

• Ageing and diversifying population
• Economic diversification
• Cost of living / affordability
• Climate change and resource depletion
• Concerns about quality of environment
• Technology and information advances enabling 
• Mobility, connectivity, assisted living

PLAN

Groups and individuals will be invited to participate in an online discussion forum hosted by the City of London as well as a series of themed workshops. 

For further information please email transportandsustainability@cityoflondon.gov.uk

A Vision for the City

The City Vision 2050 project will analyse and assess the challenges and opportunities the City will face, and examine how the City can build on its strengths and to continue to deliver world class services up to in 2050.

The project will engage City businesses, City officials, livery companies, interest groups and residents. The knowledge, experience and differing perspectives these groups will bring to the table should enable a comprehensive resilience profile for 2050 to be built.

The project will focus on the five City Together themes, critical to a strong and able City in 2050;

• Competitive and promotes opportunity – focusing on the built environment, transport and energy infrastructure

• Supports our communities- looking at how changing demographics- particularly an aging population may impact on the City

• Protects, promotes and enhances our environment – focusing on sustainable consumption, water supply, localised flooding and air quality

• Vibrant and culturally rich – looking at cultural vibrancy, protection of heritage and business mix

• Safer and stronger – looking at resilience and how changing technologies may impact on the City.

The project will deliver a series of facilitated workshops based around these themes and how they may change the character or constrain the City in the future. These workshops will take place between February 2014 and June 2014.

This process will result in a published executive summary of findings, display materials and an internet-based detailed report. We will present these findings to the City Residents meeting which takes place on Monday 23 June 2014. The output from the programme will demonstrate the City’s leadership in this area and provide input into regional, national and international work.

As the City of London is a strategic asset of national importance, the development of a horizon scanning project examining resilience can make a valuable contribution to a vital debate at a local, regional, national and international level.

City Future 2050 – What will this mean to you?

London has seen tremendous changes over the past 50 years. The City of London has seen huge changes, the City's residential population in 1850 was around 125,000 compared with the 7,500 that live here today.  

Over the next few decades there may be similar seismic changes across Greater London, with a forecast growth in population of up to 2 million. The number of people commuting into the Square Mile to work may rise to over 400,000 and the City’s residents may increase by 40%. 

The rate and pace of change driven by technology also seems to be getting faster; 3D printers, Google Glasses,  internet shopping, and driverless cars will all change the way we live in ways we cannot imagine.  

A changing climate, air pollution, traffic congestion and flooding may also affect our environment and our lifestyles.

What will all of this mean to the City as a place to live, work and visit?

In order to explore some of these questions, the City is supporting an innovative project which asks:  

‘What do we think the City will be like as a place to live, work and visit in 2050?’

A Utopia or a Distopia?

The City’s Transport and Sustainability Forum will be holding five consultative workshops up to the end of  May 2014 to explore these issues, and we would welcome your involvement and participation.

The results of our initial thoughts will be shared at the Residents’ Meeting in June 2014. For more details please contact: transportandsustainability@cityoflondon.gov.uk