Where we're going, we don't need roads!

One of my highlights of the Christmas break was watching the Back to the Future trilogy with my nine year old.  It was a staple of my childhood and so I was fascinated to get her reflections on the envisioned Hill Valley of 2015, a year before she was born.  She was disappointed in our lack of flying cars and self-drying clothes in real life but equally thought the phones, TV and fax machines looked ancient.

Watching the films again, at the end of the year in which Core Cities celebrated it’s 30th anniversary, left me thinking about what our cities might look like 30 years into the future.  Predicting the future is impossible, particularly in today’s uncertain geopolitical times.  But that does not mean that it isn’t helpful to try.  Thinking long-term helps to shape choices and decisions now.  It creates hope and ambition and can galvanise collective action.  So over the course of 2026 we will invite friends and colleagues from our wider network to offer some ideas on what the future of our cities might entail.

What will the architecture and transport of our cities look like?  How will AI and technology shape how we live and work in our cities?  Will we have been successful in transforming to net zero cities?  Will the devolution journey continue and make redundant the Think Tank industry’s paper factory on fiscal devolution?  Will our long-standing institutions – our universities, our sports team – still be globally influential?  Will Everton have finally won something again?  Look out for blogs and contributions over the course of the year.

More immediately, I am writing this blog on the day the Government published their economic plan for the north of England, and so Back to the Future feels quite pertinent for me. It is over 20 years since I first worked on the Northern Way and met our current Chief Executive of Liverpool, Andrew Lewis.  And over ten years since I led the Northern Futures open policy making programme for the Deputy Prime Minister that set the ball rolling on the first announcement of Northern Powerhouse Rail.  Yet, this time I feel optimistic that lessons have been learned as to why previous approaches stalled, with a pragmatic and multidimensional plan.  While a lot of attention will be given to the rail elements of the announcements, for Core Cities the commitment to increase effective city size and density supports the case we have been repeatedly making to drive investment into our cities.  When Core Cities Cabinet meets in Leeds in early February we will be devoting the day to practical discussions with government and investors about making our investment opportunities a reality.