As we come together for the 2021 London Infrastructure Summit, few of us will remember a more pivotal time for London and its fortunes. As we come together, London is under the shadow of the four grey swans of Covid, Brexit, climate emergency and Levelling-up – a policy that sometimes feels as if it is designed to benefit everywhere but London.
We all know that London can come out from under those four shadows and continue its upward trajectory as one of the world’s great cities but, to do so, infrastructure will be more important than ever. We will need to make it easier than ever to bring people to London and to move them around the city when they are here; we will need to make sure that the city has world class physical, digital and social infrastructure that makes it the number one location to invest and grow; we will need to make the city greener, cleaner and more sustainable than it has ever been and we will need to make our relationship and connectivity to the rest of the UK richer, deeper and more equitable than at any time in our history.
These challenges make the examination of London’s infrastructure more urgent than ever and, more than ever, we must ask not just what does London’s infrastructure do but what is London’s infrastructure for. Our City’s future requires shattering clarity on the role that infrastructure plays in meeting its challenge. It also requires an acceptance that individual interests and organisations will not have the capacity to solve these problems alone. We will need more innovation and more collaboration than ever if we are to provide the infrastructure that solves the big challenges and keeps this City great.
As leaders in infrastructure gather for this summit, let’s remember that whilst anyone can tell you what infrastructure can do, we must lead the thinking on what it is for; An improved and sustainable environment; a stimulated and vibrant economy and a global competitive advantage that creates and attractive and equitable place to live, work and do business.