Infrastructures of equality versus inequality

While planning infrastructure at a large scale it can be easy to lost sight of its effects upon the individuals who actually use it, as well as its capacity to act as a multiplier of social equity. Joining up the dots between the data, density and development, Ricky Burdett explains how policy choices have emboldened infrastructure's social impact in Bogotá and London- and could do so elsewhere

Britain’s high streets are an intrinsic part of the social and economic fabric of our cities

Reviving Britain’s high streets after the pandemic is not just about supporting shops, says Ricky Burdett (LSE). It requires recognising the social value that they provide to the surrounding neighbourhood as places that sustain complex, inner-city living

Accelerating the pace of city transformations

At the close of the 2012 Urban Age conference in London, the urbanist and social theorist Richard Sennett argued that the tendency to build large-scale new cities and neighbourhoods is depriving us of the social and creative energies of traditional urban form – often referred to as cityness. He returns to this theme in this newspaper for the Urban Age conference in Rio de Janeiro by framing the debate on cities as a contrast between efficiency and sociability. This duality is at the heart of the investigation of the interrelationships between the social and the physical in cities, which since 2005 have shaped the explorations of the Urban Age programme at LSE Cities

Spatial and visual comparison analysis of health disparities in London neighbourhoods: the case of Southwark and Lambeth

Background: In recent years, significant research has focused on understanding urban health inequalities across different locations and spatial scales in cities. At the same time, public health practitioners recognise the need for collaborative efforts beyond traditional health programs to address policy decisions impacting environmental quality and urban health. Despite this, there is a notable gap in the exploration of how spatial variations at the neighbourhood level compare with varying health levels. This research aims to bridge this gap, emphasizing the importance of understanding spatial dynamics to enhance the effectiveness of public health interventions and inform policy decisions in cities. Methods: In order to tease out potential associations between varying levels of urban health outcomes and socio-economic and spatial factors, this study focusses on female healthy life expectancy, child obesity, and diabetes within 12 London neighbourhoods situated in the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth. It employs a combination of spatial clustering techniques, Geographic Information System (GIS) data, and mapping techniques to visually represent and provide a fine-grained analysis of specific areas in London in order to uncovering the strength and nature of the relationships between health levels and the spatial, demographic, and socio-economic characteristics of different urban neighbourhoods. Results: This research offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of health outcomes across South London communities and emphasizes that holistic interventions, including how better housing, support for active lifestyles, and improved environmental management, can enhance health outcomes, and reduce disparities in cities. Conclusions: In essence, this study underscores the importance of analysing space in conjunction with social conditions when examining cities and neighbourhoods, providing valuable insights for discussions among local policymakers and academics

Counterpoint: designing inequality?

How much is the design profession to blame for the stark inequality of Brazilian cities and other global metropolises? Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and Director of its Cities and the Urban Age Programme, questions the ability of designers to often fully ‘grasp the social and environmental implications of the spatial decisions they take’

How will London change in the 2020s? Five possible scenarios

The convergence of COVID-19 and the endgame of Brexit will change London permanently. They mean that the full extent of economic, social and cultural change likely to take place in the next five to ten years is difficult to predict with accuracy. In order to set out some of the effects of these changes on the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, Tony Travers, Ricky Burdett and Alexandra Zisser (LSE Cities) set out four scenarios in which the capital would change

Developing urban futures

The Urban Age turns its ‘reflexive lens’ to Africa after a series of international conferences that have allowed us to assess selected cities in hotspots of urban growth and change across the world. For 15 years, the Urban Age project has conducted a worldwide investigation into the future of cities, holding conferences, generating research, curating exhibitions, publishing books (most recently Shaping Cities in an Urban Age) and producing newspapers like this one to explore the relationship between the design of cities – how we live, move and work – and how they can be better governed and managed to tackle the challenges of, for example, uncontrolled sprawl, inequality and climate change. The risks associated with steep and unmanaged urban growth are high. The essays in this publication provide context and perspective on the challenges faced by developing cities: from fragmented urbanisation and economic inefficiency, to environmental damage and limited democratic accountability. As the location for the 17th Urban Age conference, Addis Ababa, with its distinctive model of urban transformation in Africa, is explored in greater detail as a basis to frame questions around our shared urban future

LSE Review of Books Podcast launches three-part series on Brazil

In the first episode of a three-part series on Brazil, the LSE Review of Books Podcast takes a closer look at the city of Rio de Janeiro to uncover wider issues that face the world’s fastest growing cities. Before talking to LSE and Brazilian authors about their books on Brazil, LSERB podcast producer, Cheryl Brumley, made her first stop at the annual Urban Age Conference to hear how politicians, academics and planners from cities around the globe grapple with city transformations. The conference, put on by LSE Cities and the Alfred Herrhausen Society, is a globetrotting event which invites 70 experts to participate in a two-day investigation of cities. The conference took place in Rio amidst unprecedented urban transformation and ambitious redevelopment projects, spurred on by the impending World Cup and Olympic Games