City Regions 2.0 - why cities can never be smart enough on their own
Dr Robin Daniels
Serial founder, innovator and impact investor | Fellow, Wolfson College Cambridge
The Royal Town Planning Institute represents over 25,000 professional urban planners across the UK. Since 1914 the RTPI has been a leader in planning policy development, always at the forefront of spotting future trends and working to ensure that national planning policy and practice keeps up.
In recent years the RTPI, along with many others, has begun to place increasing emphasis on the importance of city regions; those areas that fall within the influence of large urban centres, for good or ill.
In the context of Brexit uncertainty, a shifting international geo-political landscape, accelerating climate change and resultant extreme weather events, the £30bn South West economy shares a housing crisis, fundamental skills shortages and poor productivity with the rest of the UK. We also have a combination of significant urban centres punctuating enormous, but poorly understood, natural capital assets across a very largely rural part of the UK.
Without clear and decisive leadership, what will the South West look like ten, twenty or thirty years from now?
December 6th will see the CEO of the RTPI joining senior leaders from Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth City Councils, Dartmoor National Park, the Met Office and a range of private sector thought leaders for the South West Business Council’s final quarterly conference of 2018.
“SMART CITY REGION 2.0 –SOUTH WEST 2050” will explore the opportunities to tackle these significant challenges not as isolated issues, but strategically and with a coordinated approach across and between cities and rural areas. Only by treating sectors like housing, transport, health and the environment as components of an integrated system can we begin to approach solutions that are robust, scalable and resilient. City and regional leaders will need to understand complex economic, social and environmental trends, build consensus between a wide range of stakeholders, and develop long-term plans in conditions of uncertainty. The smart city concept also describes ways in which data and technology can be used to improve the performance of infrastructure networks and create more sustainable urban areas. However, all too often such approaches fail to take into account the most important stakeholder of all – the citizen.
This conference will be led by the South West Business Council, in partnership with Redpill Group, international engineering consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV, and Anglo-American law firm Womble Bond Dickinson. Together with a stellar line-up of speakers and delegates from across the UK we will discuss best practice around the world, the opportunities for integrated planning, cooperation and technological innovation - and the kind of region that we want to leave to the next generation.