A roundtable discussion bringing together London, other European cities, and the built environment community to explore the reimagining of cities.

Cities are already the product of the imagination of those who have planned, built, and enabled them, and everyone who lives in them. There are special moments in history when it is possible to re-imagine our cities in new ways either because of new forces of change or crisis, risks, and threats that provoke a rethink. We are living in such a moment. The combination of threats from climate, insecurity, inequality, conflicts, combined written opportunities for change that come from the recent pandemic, new technologies, and population changes are such that developing new intentional platforms and laboratories for experimentation and the pioneering of new approaches has become both desirable and essential.

 

In 2014, the Mayor of Paris launched the 'Reinventing Paris' programme, which was followed by the 'Reinventing Athens' project four years later. Amsterdam introduced its 'Reinventing Tourism in Amsterdam' initiative in 2020. And the Barcelona City Government initiated the 'Reactivating Barcelona' programme in 2020 alongside the Barcelona 2030 and 2050 Commissions. This year, building on the momentum of the New London Agenda, NLA launched the 'Reimagine London' competition, sharing innovative and aspirational ideas about the future of the capital which respond to the needs of London. Across Europe, many cities have also been engaged in the process of reinvention, reimagination, and re-conception, including Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, and many more.

 

What do we mean by reinvention or reimagination? What outcomes should be achieved? How will cities be different as a result? How can the built environment be the active fabric in that reinvention?