The Making of a World City: London 1991 to 2021

In 1986 the UK government abolished citywide government in London, leading to a vacuum of ideas and direction for the future of this once great city. But somehow London flourished and in 1991 the term ‘world city’ was used to describe its agenda for the future in a ground breaking report. Nearly 25 years later London is the leading city in the world. How did it happen?   The text draws on a unique combination of literature, data and interviews with 60 international urban thinkers and practitioners, regarding their views on London’s past, current and future position and challenges as a world city.   The initial study was inspired by the untimely death of Honor Chapman and was initially funded by five key players in London’s property market; Jones Lang LaSalle, Grosvenor, Land Securities, Great Portland Estates, the London Communications Agency. Honor was a renowned and highly respected figure in the property industry due to her perceptive analysis and insights into city and property market competition. Her involvement in the original 1991 book, London World City was testament to this. The recommendations that came from that project laid many of the foundations of modern city marketing and certainly were instrumental in making London what it is today. Honor Chapman led the way in implementing the recommendations of the 1991 London World City Report.  The book offers a detailed guide to the different stages of London’s evolution since 1991, as well as reflections from many of the world’s leading urban thinkers on where to go from here. Cities are now high on national and regional agendas as we all try to work out the impact of urbanisation. For this reason we feel that London’s unique story as a resurgent world city offers many lessons for those plotting similar or different paths.

Preface Honor Chapman Acknowledgements Section I: London in 1991 – setting the scene 1. Introduction: Honor Chapman and London: World City 2. London prior to 1991: the backstory 3. The 1991 London: World City report and its message about London Section II: The evolution of London, 1991–2014 4. Economy Internationalisation of London’s labour–force The global financial crisis and after 5. Governance and Policy 1997 and a new direction for metropolitan government Promoting London 6. Urban Regeneration New regeneration powers from 2000 From de–industrial to post–industrial: building a new experience for markets, leisure and commerce 7. Office market and real estate 8. Housing 9. Infrastructure Section III: London today and in the Future 10. World Cities Today Key developments in the global system of cities in 2014 11. London in the next decade: implications of the rise of other world cities 12. Investment in London: challenges and solutions 13. Eight Imperatives for London 14. Lessons from London Appendix

  Greg Clark … is a Londoner and expert on world cities. He works as an city advisor to OECD, World Bank, Brookings Institution, ULI and more than 20 major cities around the world (including Auckland, Barcelona, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Singapore, and Toronto) but learned what he knows from working for 15 years in London as a leader in city agencies during the period covered by this book.  He has written four books for the OECD and several published reports for the Brookings Institution, British Council and ULI.