This was a presentation at an event in Wakefield organised by Beam in March 2009. My brief was to look at some of the big issues that might affect how we create 'great places' in future. Although occasionally tongue in cheek, there are some serious issues here.

1. 2009: the year
of uncertainty

2. As we know
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns
The ones we don't know we don't know
Hart Seely, The existential poetry of Donald H Rumsfeld

3. Things fall apart; the
centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is
loosed upon the
world
W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

4. ‘Nothing in life is ever
certain, but these
measures we think will
work in the long-term...
I don’t know how long it
will take’
Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of
England, 5 March 2009

5. the risks...
1

7. the risks...
2 climate

9. ‘The scientific evidence
is now overwhelming:
climate change presents
very serious global risks,
and it demands an
urgent global response.’
Introduction to the Stern review of the
economics of climate change, 2006

10. ‘Looking back, the Stern
review underestimates
the risks and
underestimates the
damage from inaction’
Lord Stern, speaking at the Copenhagen
climate change conference, 12 March 2009

11. the risks...
3 reduced
resources

13. Half of England’s local
authorities have cut jobs
in the last few months...
seven out of ten expect
further redundancies
Local Government Association survey,
February 2009

14. the risks...
4 political
uncertainty

16. So what about the
opportunities?

17. A green new deal?

19. Germany has one
million people
working in
renewable energy
...the UK has 7,000

20. Local democracy
revived?

22. Only 35% of
eligible voters
took part in local
elections in 2008

23. Local economic
development?

24. 20% of economic
development and
regeneration staff in
Yorkshire will retire in
the next five years.

25. So what future for
‘great places’?

27. New investment?

29. ‘Public resources are
keeping regeneration
going as much as the
private sector’
Michael Parkinson’s report on the credit
crunch and regeneration, January 2009

30. What about
poverty?

32. ‘If the enormous volume of
the philanthropy of the
present day were wisely
directed it would, I believe,
in the course of a few years,
change the face of
England.’
Joseph Rowntree, 1904

33. ‘Breadline poverty levels
are rising and
socioeconomic and
geographical polarisation is
increasing.’
Poverty, wealth and place in Britain,
1968 to 2005

34. A stressed-out
society

35. • 40% of incapacity benefit
claimants suffer mental
illness
• one third of GP patients have
mental health problems
• six million people suffer from
depression or anxiety

36. Social unrest?

38. This year’s
fashion:
mashable culture

39. A Web 2.0 world:
• 184 million blogs, around 900,000
posts daily
• 175 million people use Facebook
• 35 million people on LinkedIn
• 6 million people using Twitter
• what next?

40. ‘You’re better off being
alone in the dark in this
age of information’
- Bill Bruford

42. ‘I can’t remember the
lines I used to think I
could read between’
- Brian Eno

43. A Web 2.0 world:
• disruptive technology?
• communication and collaboration?
• the world’s collective consciousness?
• a huge cocktail party, but without the
cocktails?
• a new world order, but without the
order?

44. ‘There is only one thing
in life worse than being
talked about, and that is
not being talked about’
- Oscar Wilde

45. No more business
as usual

46. What do we value
- and what are our
values?

47. • community self-help, or
government direction?
• local distinctiveness, or
economy of scale?
• equality of opportunity, or
survival of the fittest?

48. ‘In a universe of blind forces
and physical replication, some
people are going to get hurt,
others are going to get lucky,
and you won’t find any rhyme
or reason in it, nor any justice.’
- Richard Dawkins,
River Out of Eden

49. In a world where we
can’t agree about what
we think, what are the
implications for
what we do?

50. ‘All the art and science
of city planning are
helpless to prevent
decay.’
- Jane Jacobs, 1960
The Death and Life of Great American
Cities

51. Welcome to the future?

52. ‘Knowledge is knowing
that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not
to put it in a fruit salad’
- Miles Kington