June 2012: A new report outlining the imperatives for London’s future success has recently been published and contains views from around 100 leading thinkers about the future of cities into the second decade of the 21st century – including the following:
“While some challenges remain as intractable as ever, others have only surfaced more recently. The major policy area which has moved inescapably to the forefront since London:World City is that of climate change. In 1991 environmental concerns were primarily limited to air pollution, sulphur dioxide emissions, noise and litter. The implications of carbon dioxide emissions for urban life and urban policy had barely registered. Today London’s carbon reduction and climate mitigation dilemmas are complex and critical. There is increasing evidence that world cities will need to introduce rigorous climate-change-oriented provision in order to meet the security and ethical demands of an increasingly environmentally conscious citizenry.”