Britain is more culturally diverse than ever before. 8 million people, 14% of the population of England and Wales, belong to an ethnic minority group, up from 9% in 2001. London is home to 270 nationalities speaking 300 languages. Should we be doing more to support integration and avoid segregation and isolation? A new infographic, commissioned by the RGS-IBG as part
Read more
“We need to take environmental discussions out of the technocratic closet and make them popular” was Baroness Kate Parminter’s take home message from this year’s Burntwood Lecture, held by the Institution of Environmental Sciences. In her lecture, Baroness Parminter, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson in the House of Lords for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, addressed the ‘separation anxiety’ that
Read more
The energy system is inherently geographical; the current system is dominated by centralised points of large-scale transformation, connected spatially to sites of consumption through infrastructure that transports and transmits electricity and natural gas via the National Grid and the national transmission network. Yet this system is based on fossil fuels. To meet the legally binding targets within the UK’s 2008 Climate Change
Read more
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:
Read more
Are we likely to meet our targets to increase the use of renewables to 15% of our total energy use by 2020, or to decarbonise our economy by 2050? In 2040, will we as citizens and will our elected Governments prioritise reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, or material wealth for consumers, with little regard for the environment? It is of
Read more
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.
Read more
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
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
Read moreJo Johnson MP, Minister for Universities and Science, was lavish in his praise of the achievements of the science and engineering community in the UK at the 30th anniversary Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) lecture last night. Yet he was far less forthcoming about the impact of a potential ‘Brexit’ on the continuing success of this endeavour, despite a
Read more
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
Read more
21st Century Challenges 