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Advice for Mayor from Policy Exchange

The Million Vote Mandate: The Challenges facing Boris Johnson

The new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was elected a month ago with the votes of over 1 million Londoners.  Now, a new pamphlet from the Policy Exchange and Localis think tanks, looks at the big issues the new Mayor will face in his first term as set out by commentators on London politics and Steve Malanga of the Manhattan Institute.

   "Boris has not yet articulated a coherent counter-narrative, and he needs to do so. So here is one suggestion: a less divided, less prescriptive city; a more enabling Mayoralty, working not top-down but through free associations of empowered individuals; a closer focus on the dull details of delivery which matter to Londoners' lives. " Andrew Gilligan

Archive: 2004 Boris Johnson on New York and think-tanks

Developers accused of pursuing gadgetry instead of saving planet

Architects and developers are ignoring the threat of climate change and failing to address concerns over sustainability, according to the government's watchdog on urban planning and design.

"There are some architects and developers who really get climate change, but most don't or choose not to. As a result we get a lot of greenwash, such as green gadgets and microtechnology stuck on to buildings, rather than a proper approach to sustainable design."

Church for the city

Jonathan Glancey on the the regenerated St Martin in the Fields

"Contrasts, contradictions and even conundrums are, though, parts and parcels of this extraordinary London foundation. "

27th April -18th Festival in the Fields including Sacred spaces- an exploration with Eric Parry, Philip Sheldrake and Maragaret Barker.  "What constitutes a ‘sacred space’? And how do our buildings – ancient and contemporary – help us to express the concept? Reflecting on our renewed church building, and the new complex of underground spaces, three renowned speakers help us explore the fascinating subject of ‘sacred space’ from a variety of angles – theological, architectural, cultural and sociological."

Even an atheist can marvel at this exquisite refuge for the urban poor. "St Martin's is emphatically a church, and its revival is a salutary tale of our times. It has raised its own money to beautify the city as well as to assist the homeless. We may choose to leave the faith out of it, but we can yet marvel at the mission." Simon Jenkins 2nd May

An elected Mayor for every major English town and city

Mayors rule,   Michael Kenny and Guy Lodge consider the case in  IPPR’s quarterly journal Public Policy Research (ppr).

“Even though mayors have proved a success in places like London, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, the current system allows councils to block the creation of more mayors. Mayoral campaigns like the current London one help to invigorate local politics by provoking interest and debate on local issues. "

FOOL'S GOLD

2012 Olympics will break 'legacy' promise unless rules are changed quickly.

Fool's Gold, the new report from the New Economics Foundation, shows that unless cast-iron guarantees are built into plans for the 2012 Olympics, the Games will fail to leave the promised positive local legacy for the poorest residents of East London. The report identifies the ‘trickle down’ economics that underly the approach to regeneration at the heart of the Olympic bid as the root cause of the problem.

Dreams set in concrete

Forty years ago, work began on the construction of Thamesmead, 'a 21st century town'. But has it lived up to its promise, and what does its future hold? Michael Collins reports in The Guardian.

One London?

Change and cohesion in three London boroughs

IPPR / Government Office for London report explores the nature of the contemporary challenges to community cohesion in London and sets out how local actors have responded to them.

"...the capital faces its own very particular challenges to community cohesion, including lower levels of neighbourliness and inter-personal trust, families in the same street living on very different incomes and lacking shared experiences, and a very rapidly changing demographic make-up in a context of growing pressures on basic resources, especially housing."

What legacy?

How will the claims made for the Olympic Park really play out in the lives of East Londoners?

The Olympics site is eating into east London's green spaces and few local residents will be around to benefit from the area's vast redevelopment, says Tony Lloyd-Jones.

'A new "green Olympics" site development will be of little more benefit to local residents than the current vast blue-fenced building site they will have to suffer until the Olympics is upon them, and for several years after as the legacy sites are redeveloped.'

"An unsuccessful city has closed its mind to the future."

Cities on the edge of chaos

Deyan Sudjic, co-editor of Endless City, asks if the city of the future will be a vision of hell or a force for civilised living?
"Cities are made by an extraordinary mixture of do-gooders and bloody-minded obsessives, of cynical political operators and speculators. They are shaped by the unintended consequences of the greedy and the self-interested, the dedicated and the occasional visionary."

"We need more than platitudes" Jonathan Meades reviews Endless City

Row over 'street in sky' estate

The future of a significant modern housing project is under threat.

Robin Hood Gardens was completed in 1972. It was intended as an example of the "streets in the sky" concept - social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. The estate seemed destined for demolition but has won a reprieve.

The Building Design website has begun a petition which it hopes to present to English Heritage to get the "seminal" building listed. Lord Rogers has said:

"Peter and Alison Smithson built two seminal buildings in London - the Economist Building in St James' Street and Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets - both as good, if not better, than any other modern building in Britain. Whilst the Economist Building has been maintained and upgraded, Robin Hood Gardens has been appallingly neglected…”