The Metropolitan Century: an event in partnership with the OECD

We were delighted to host this private roundtable event with the OECD, to mark the launch of two new books, The Metropolitan Century: Understanding Urbanisation and its Consequences and Governing the City. The books are the culmination of two years of work on urban trends and governance by the OECD. The findings will be of great interest to those involved in the discussion around city devolution in the UK, looking into the economic impact of giving cities control over decisions such as transport and land use.

This discussion brought together city leaders, chief executives and senior civil servants to discuss the findings of these publications at a private roundtable with Luiz de Mello, Deputy Director of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate at the OECD.

The Metropolitan Century: Understanding Urbanisation and its Consequences aims to give a general overview of the functioning of cities, and what makes them function well. It analyses the role of cities for their residents and countries, and considers the requisites for attractive, successful and sustainable cities.

Governing the City highlights both the variety of governance structures and their central role in the functioning of cities. A particular focus is on governance of transport and spatial planning, and how effective metropolitan governance reforms have been implemented.

Audio of the presentation from Luiz de Mello is available here.