A low-carbon economy – with a target of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide levels, on 1990 levels, by 2050 – is a long-standing objective of UK energy policy. But what will a low-carbon economy look like and what will it be like to live there? A paper in Energy Policy by Gavin Bridge and colleagues (‘Geographies of energy transition:
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The RGS-IBG ran a public discussion ‘Life off the Ladder’ on 15 June looking at whether long-term renting and alternative housing options could ever be sustainable alternatives to home-ownership in the UK. David Ireland OBE, Director, Building and Social Housing Foundation says in this guest blog that policy-makers should also question the status quo of owner occupation. “The RGS-IBG 21st
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Professor Chris Hamnett, chair of Monday 20th June’s 21st Century Challenges: Policy Forum event on London’s housing crisis, provides his views on the main points he considers arose from the discussion, and the implications of these for policy. The new Mayor of London has committed to an ambition to provide 50,000 new homes a year in the capital, with the
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Monday 20 June, 5.30pm – 7.15pm (followed by networking drinks) Delivering affordable, timely and sustainable housing for London’s workforce The Housing and Planning Bill and current Greater London Authority initiatives will, arguably, only partially address the substantial need for genuinely affordable, timely and sustainable housing – for rent and for purchase – for London’s workforce now, and in the future.
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Policy Network, a London-based progressive think tank, hosted a breakfast briefing on 26 April to launch a paper proposing a new model of home occupation to solve the capital’s housing crisis. With house prices rapidly rising across London, and rent increases outstripping inflation and wage increases, those around the table at the event described London as becoming ‘hollowed out’ as
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In the run-up to the election for the new Mayor of London, on 5 May, the British Academy last night held a discussion to consider whether the model of an elected ‘metro mayor‘ is really one that should be adopted across the rest of the country, as per the Government’s policies for devolution. There is no doubt that government in this
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Panellists at a lively Question Time – style event at UCL last night set out various technical solutions to London’s housing crisis, but concluded that ultimately strong and forward-thinking political leadership was most important to lead to genuine change. Chaired by Peter Wynne-Rees, Professor of Places and City Planning at the Bartlett, UCL, the panel’s discussion was wide-ranging and at
Read moreA new report shows the scale of the divide between economic development in the north and the south of Great Britain. The report, ‘Uneven growth: tackling city decline‘ reveals that although many Northern cities are growing, this growth often lags significantly behind national levels. The report was written for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) by geographers at the Centre for Urban
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Last week the 21st Century Challenges programme travelled to Newcastle, to the Great North Museum, to run a public discussion meeting exploring the opportunities and challenges that decentralisation might bring to the North East of England. Our regional partners were the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) and the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (APL) at Newcastle University. Chaired
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Tomorrow evening (3 December) a panel of distinguished speakers and an equally distinguished chair will take to the stage to discuss, in front of a public audience, the topic of ‘Decentralisation: what’s in it for the North?’. Coming just after the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, when the Chancellor, George Osborne, once again reiterated the Conservatives’ commitment to building a ‘Northern
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21st Century Challenges 