The world’s most visited city, London has in recent years enjoyed stellar success that is now compromised by an unregulated focus on wealth. Disconnected from the capital’s rich cultural identity, this threatens to undermine its broader economies. Featuring observations and opinions of some of the UK’s foremost developers, placemakers and cultural commentators, this #BRANDLONDON report seeks to understand whether the capital has the strengths, smarts and connections it needs to build on its dazzling recent record. Created by Karl Aussia | creativeunion.net

1. INTRODUCTION
THE WORLD’S MOST VISITED CITY,
LONDON HAS IN RECENT YEARS
ENJOYED STELLAR SUCCESS THAT
IS NOW COMPROMISED BY AN
UNREGULATED FOCUS ON WEALTH
DISCONNECTED FROM THE CAPITAL’S RICH
CULTURAL IDENTITY, THIS THREATENS
TO UNDERMINE ITS BROADER ECONOMIES
INSIGHT REPORT: #BRANDLONDON
VOLUME ONE | OCTOBER 2015
PART OF THE EVOLVE GROUP

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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
A WORLD SHAPED BY CHARISMATIC SUPERCITIES 4
WHAT MAKES A 21ST
-CENTURY CITY SUPERBRAND? 4
UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES 6 - 7
SOFT POWER, STRATEGY AND SYNERGY – THE NEW RISE OF A VETERAN HIGH-ACHIEVER 8
CONNECTIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH ACROSS SECTORS 9 - 10
A STYLISTIC PALETTE THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD 11 - 12
A WEALTH OF HERITAGE ANCIENT AND MODERN – SO WHICH WAY NOW? 13 - 14
HOW TO JOIN UP SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER MORE STRATIFIED CITY? 15
INNOVATIVE RESPONSES TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME 16 - 17
LOOKING OVER THE EDGE - LONDON’S LATEST CULTURAL CHALLENGE 18
CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL 19 - 20
PEOPLE 21
PLACES 22
IDEAS 23
CREDITS 24
CONTACT DETAILS 25
Karl Aussia, founder of creative.union is marketing communications strategist specialised in
qualitative research and insight gathering, who devises culturally inspired strategies,
communication platforms and integrated activation plans. Rupert Mellor is a freelance
writer and journalist whose commissions from newspapers include Financial Times, The
Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Sydney Morning Herald and magazines
around the world.
Conceived and edited by Karl Aussia. Written and co-edited by Rupert Mellor

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WITH WORLD CITIES
WIELDING MORE PEOPLE,
INFLUENCE, WEALTH,
CULTURE AND PRODUCTIVITY
THAN EVER BEFORE, DOES
THE UK’S CAPITAL HAVE THE
STRENGTHS, SMARTS AND
CONNECTIONS IT NEEDS
TO BUILD ON ITS DAZZLING
RECENT RECORD?
INTRODUCTION
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Is it an ecosystem? An endlessly
complex machine? When the
progressive theoretical physicists
Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West
of New Mexico’s Santa Fe Institute
set out to define the dynamics of
a city in 2013, the analogy a slew of
data sets led them to was that of
a star, or sun. Sharing the scientists’
conclusions at July’s New Cities
Summit in Jakarta, Greg Lindsay,
Senior Fellow of the New Cities
Foundation further explained,
‘[Cities] are what [Bettencourt]
called social reactors… where we
take social networks and condense
them in space and time, and
something magical happens. We see
massive profusions in growth… jobs
created… development happening’
For the first time, more of the
world’s population now lives in cities
than rural areas, and the power and
influence of the city, whose essence
Bettencourt and West characterised
as less an agglomeration of people
than an agglomeration of connections
between people, have never
been greater.
Above this new landscape towers an
elite stratum of supercities, global hubs
which magnetise talent, investment
and visitors, and produce the planet’s
highest and most progressive
concentrations of services,
products, policy, culture and profit.
A WORLD SHAPED
BY CHARISMATIC
SUPERCITIES
A WORLD SHAPED BY CHARISMATIC SUPERCITIES
For the first time more of the
world’s population now lives
in cities than rural areas
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‘I’ve not seen any listing in a very long
time that doesn’t have London and
New York fighting it out for the top
slot,’ says Jonn Elledge, Editor of New
Statesman’s urban policy website
CityMetric of the world’s supercity
rankings. ‘Everywhere else’ – regular
rivals include Shanghai, Paris,
Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Hong
Kong, Singapore and sometimes
Melbourne and Sao Paolo – ‘is
quite far behind.
‘Economic and political clout and
location are all key, but soft-power
factors like our cultural institutions,
global media like the BBC, The
Guardian and Mail Online, universities
and research facilities also
contribute, and in leading cities the
coexistence of all of these produces
a network effect that adds up to
a certain “world city” status.’
Right now London is enjoying an
extraordinarily golden moment. With
the 2012 Olympic Games crowning
meteoric rises in the sectors of culture
– Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design
Museum refers in his paper Studio of
the World: London as a Design Centre
for the journal London Essays to the
city as an ‘early warning station for
creativity’– education, gastronomy,
the third sector and, 2008’s global
financial crisis notwithstanding,
business, the UK capital is riding
a palpable wave of confidence
and high achievement.
In 2013, London topped the Anholt-
GFK Roper City Brand Index, since its
introduction in 2006 the definitive
evaluation, via a global survey, of cities’
images and reputations.
WHAT MAKES
A 21ST
-CENTURY
CITY SUPERBRAND?
WHAT MAKES A 21ST-CENTURY CITY SUPERBRAND?
‘I’ve not seen any listing in a
very long time that doesn’t have
London and New York fighting
it out for the top slot’
JONN ELLEDGE, EDITOR, CITYMETRIC
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It’s a city whose possibilities play out
against a rich tapestry of narratives.
An ever-unfolding clash of history
with modernity, a restlessly inventive
creative frontier and a crucible for
political and artistic progress, London
is also the most highly functioning
large-scale multicultural community
on Earth, as evidenced by the 300
languages spoken within its sprawling
borders. Its traditions of freedom,
tolerance and equality continue to
be updated on the city’s canvas,
with Marc Quinn’s fourth plinth
sculpture of 2005, Alison Lapper,
and 2012’s unprecedented
celebration of the Paralympics two
examples of a trailblazing dialogue
around perceptions of disability.
UNIQUE ASSETS –
WORLDLEADING DIVERSITY
AND A PROFUSION OF
CULTURAL NARRATIVES
UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES
‘It’s a place of great opportunity,’ says
James Drury, Editor in Chief of the
website Londonist. ‘People have been
drawn here for hundreds of years,
because London’s very welcoming
to different lifestyles and ideas. So
whether you want to create new art,
or start up a business, or try a different
haircut, London’s pretty cool with that.’
Elledge, meanwhile, is among the many
commentators who note that the UK’s
broader political climate today has,
particularly with regard to arguments
around immigration, ‘pulled us away
from that openness to a certain extent’.
Culturally, London blends classical
riches with a resolute irreverence,
a rock’n’roll edge that continuously
refreshes its offer with an alluring
unpredictability. In a 2011 survey of
overseas visitors, 78 per cent cited
museums and galleries as one of their
primary reasons for making the trip.
300 DIFFERENT
LANGUAGES
SPOKEN
78 PER CENT
OF OVERSEAS
VISITORS CITED
MUSEUMS AS
A KEY DRAW
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UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES
‘London’s very
welcoming
to different
lifestyles
and ideas’
JAMES DRURY,
EDITOR IN CHIEF, LONDONIST
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The world’s most visited city for five
of the last seven years, London can
trace its current upsurge back more or
less to New Labour’s coining of ‘Cool
Britannia’ in 1997. The inauguration of
the city’s mayoralty in 2000 marked a
quantum leap for the city’s cohesion
and current mayor Boris Johnson’s
convening, four years ahead of the
Olympics, of 30 advisers from diverse
businesses to help shape a new city
brand a further gear shift.
One of this move’s most significant
outcomes was the formation of
London Partners, the city’s first
official single promotional company,
and an amalgamation of the former
agencies Think London, Study London
and Visit London into a unified
department, whose work on the
2012 Olympics showed London in a
new light, and which wasted no time
parlaying the associated gains into
highly visible legacy assets.
SOFT POWER, STRATEGY AND SYNERGY – THE NEW RISE OF A VETERAN HIGH-ACHIEVER
‘While some of our peers in newer
cities like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and
Singapore have budgets of tens of
millions and dedicated venues to play
with, our approach is to work closely
with selected projects that animate
a bigger story,’ says Iain Edmondson,
London Partners’ Head of Major
Events. ‘Events need a certain scale
to say “London”, and the cycling event
Ride London, which started in 2013 has
been my biggest collaborative project
to date, to bring together the closing
of 100 miles of roads, working with
Surrey County Council, public spaces
like the National Trust at Box Hill and
thousands of volunteers to deliver
an event that lets tens of thousands
of cyclists experience London in an
exciting new way, and show the world
another side of the city.
SOFT POWER, STRATEGY
AND SYNERGY – THE NEW
RISE OF A VETERAN
HIGH-ACHIEVER
‘Events need a
certain scale to
say “London” ’
IAIN EDMONDSON,
LONDON PARTNERS
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CONNECTIONS
AS CATALYSTS
FOR GROWTH
ACROSS
SECTORS
CONNECTIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH ACROSS SECTORS
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‘But the connections that make great
things happen aren’t always that
immediately visible,’ he continues,
after making tantalising mention of
a new, large-scale festival of light
that may soon join the city’s events
calendar. ‘The NFL American football
games that Wembley Stadium hosts
three times a year may not be the
biggest deal in the world for, say,
tourism, when we have 19 million
international visitors across the
365 days of the year. But owners
of NFL teams are now interested in
spending their money internationally,
and Shahid Khan, who owns the
Jacksonville Jaguars has been mooted
as a potential buyer of Tottenham
Hotspur FC. And that club is looking
to invest in a new stadium. So that
could catalyse a major regeneration
opportunity for a whole area of
London that was badly affected by
the 2011 riots.’
Joined-up thinking is clearly now on
London’s agenda. Projects involving
Transport for London showcase
some shining examples, with master
designer Thomas Heatherwick’s
reinvention of the iconic Routemaster
bus an instant (if functionally not
untroubled) hit with the passengers
who clamber daily inside its cute
curves. And the smart, modern
stations and carriages of the ‘Ginger
Line’, London Overground’s recent
network extension, offer a rare oasis
of considered restraint among the
garishly clashing liveries London train
passengers have learned to expect at
the hands of a throng of competing
private providers, while its slick
connection of once obscure London
neighbourhoods fuels anticipation
of Crossrail’s transformative
potential. Smoothing the daily
contact untold thousands of
Londoners and visitors have with the
workings of the city, such canny and
handsome connections of design,
function, and proudly loved tradition
could upgrade the broader transport
system too. And with Jeremy
Corbyn’s re-nationalisation proposals
allowing us all to think the of-late
unthinkable about rail networks
once more, is the time ripe for a new
discussion about the aesthetics
of shared infrastructure?
Imminent, massive-scale London
regeneration projects whose
opportunities will span broad ranges
of sectors include HS2 which will
remake Euston station and its
surroundings, and Old Oak Common,
the Crossrail hub south of Willesden
Junction, which is expected to create
between 50,000 and 90,000 jobs.
Further afield, urban development
has never been so expansive. Former
Minister for Universities and Science
David Willetts asserted on a 2013
visit to Mumbai with Prime Minister
David Cameron that ‘London is
the world’s greatest centre for
the master planning of cities and
industrial zones, with expertise
in transport systems, structural
engineering and architecture.’ With
experts predicting that brand-new
municipalities will double the world’s
tally of cities by 2060, it’s a claim
London-based engineers, planners
and city makers of all kinds would
do well to be ready to substantiate.
CONNECTIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH ACROSS SECTORS
‘London is the
world’s greatest
centre for the
master planning
of cities and
industrial zones’
DAVID WILLETTS,
FORMER MINISTER FOR
UNIVERSITIES AND SCIENCE
Joined-up thinking
is clearly now on
London’s agenda
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Free to visit since 2001, the city’s
national museums make up the
heart of a rich and ever-expanding
spectrum of established institutions
and temporary ventures that both
keep London’s historic cultural wealth
alive and breathe unprecedented
life into arts and expression, both
among locals and visitors. The Victoria
and Albert, the world’s first design
museum, has become a beacon of
how such generosity drives payback,
with physical and online shops doing
excellent business, and successive
paid-for special exhibits breaking all
attendance records. Central London
filming restrictions relaxed in the
A STYLISTIC
PALETTE
THAT SPEAKS
TO THE
WORLD
A STYLISTIC PALETTE THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD
Noughties, plus generous tax breaks
since for filmmakers have harnessed
the power of cinema to dual effect,
both capturing inward investment and
immortalising the capital’s cityscapes
for new global generations of
moviegoers – and potential visitors.
Breaks for video games developers
have also brought rude health to
that sector, making the UK’s
Europe’s biggest games industry.
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A STYLISTIC PALETTE THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD
London’s styles and stories also
provide a springboard for a broad
portfolio of commercial brands.
In fashion, Rimmel’s ‘London Look’
campaigns leverage the dangerous
glamour exuded by the city’s fabled
rock’n’roll It girls, calling in Kate Moss
and Georgia May Jagger for their
artfully insouciant close-ups.
Burberry meanwhile retargets
traditional tailoring quality – while
coolly signalling it hangs with junior
Beckhams, offspring of Sting and
the UK’s most sought after models
and movie stars – and with stores
in more than 50 countries is one of
a brace of luxury labels which have
defied the recession to do booming
business all over the world in recent
years. Paul Smith’s Savile-Row-goes-
Pop boutiques meanwhile revitalise
old-school Anglo-Saxon sartorialism,
and the incomparable high priestess
of London-lensed mischievousness
Vivienne Westwood continues to
collide the capital’s courtly traditions
with mud-splattered paganism, and
refinement with randy rawness in her
unmistakably Albionesque creations.
A time-honoured London pastime,
tippling also reveals some city-specific
trends. Beefeater Gin, for decades
hingeing on images of the Tower of
London’s scarlet-skirted sentinels,
recently invited their customers to
submit images showing their take on
the city’s life to form new branding in
its ‘My London’ campaign, while new
artisan spirits brands such as City of
London Distillery evoke venerable
guilds associations, in East London
Liquor Company’s case opening a
handsome stripped brick, beaten-
copper trimmed bar and shop to
hammer home its craftsmanlike
authenticity. Fuller’s brewery
meanwhile, taps into honest-to-
goodness pint-supping conviviality
the way London taverns have always
served it, still based in the company’s
handsome brown-brick Chiswick
building that dates back to 1828.
Rimmel’s ‘London
Look’ campaigns
leverage the
dangerous glamour
exuded by the
city’s fabled
rock’n’roll It girls
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For London there is much, then,
to play for, and the city may be as
much under threat from some of
its apparent runaway successes –
statement modern architecture,
services for the super-rich – as
from its obvious weaknesses –
inequality, insufficient housing, spatial
segregation. Even stars fade and die,
and those steering London’s brand
have some high-stakes decisions
to make about its next steps. Keen
strategy and smart collaborations
look indispensible if London’s
advantages are to be maintained
and built upon.
The built environment, changing
in London at an unprecedented
pace, is rife with challenges. With
more than 230 high-rise buildings
due to go up in the coming years,
thrilled gasps at the once singular
additions of landmark towers such as
the Lloyd’s Building and the Gherkin
are increasingly changing to panicked
gulps as London’s historic skyline
seems to begin to disappear beneath
a forest of prestige but geographically
non-specific projects by starchitects
from all over the world. (An instructive
contrast can be seen in the work of
the similarly illustrious late couturier
Alexander McQueen, whose world-
conquering success never diluted the
authentic London and British contexts
stitched into his masterful designs.)
A WEALTH OF HERITAGE
ANCIENT AND MODERN –
SO WHICH WAY NOW?
A WEALTH OF HERITAGE ANCIENT AND MODERN – SO WHICH WAY NOW?
‘London’s historic skyline
seems to begin to disappear’
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A WEALTH OF HERITAGE ANCIENT AND MODERN – SO WHICH WAY NOW?
They seem an expression, too of the
inequality – the most pronounced, says
cultural commentator Ekow Eshun,
in 200 years – that has become an
offence to more and more ‘ordinary’
Londoners. And while in rare cases
they may be obliged to lurk behind a
tokenistic facadectomy – a historic
shell preserved by law or public feeling
– anonymous, anodyne new apartment
blocks threaten to make all but the
most celebrated London streetscapes
uniformly coherence-free.
‘Then there’s the “blandification”
of the high street, ‘says Drury. ‘This
seems to represent the triumph of
multinationals or large developers
over smaller independent businesses,
because they have the financial clout
to just drop another Costa, estate
agent or Tesco Metro. I think it’s time
councils were more assertive about
what should be allowed. I’m really quite
heartened at the moment by seeing
some of them now using planning
regulations to restrict certain types
of businesses from ending up in their
high streets. So Southwark is now not
allowing any more gambling shops and
pawnbrokers to open for example,
and Wandsworth is protecting
121 of its pubs to try and prevent
them from being turned
into yet more flats.
‘To my mind housing is the biggest
problem there is in London. I’ll be
interested to see the outcome of
New London Architecture’s current
competition project which is seeking
creative solutions to it and will exhibit
shortlisted entries in The Building
Centre in Bloomsbury later this year.
I wonder if there is an opportunity
for housing associations and councils
or other organisations to take more
of a positive and forward-thinking
role together, to come up with more
innovative solutions to where people
are going to live.’
‘Then there’s the
“blandification”
of the high street’
JAMES DRURY,
EDITOR IN CHIEF, LONDONIST
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It’s not hard to argue that brand
London has until now been business-
driven to a degree which is no longer
appropriate to the realities of life in
the city for the many. Notable recent
moves to project London’s identity
through its day-to-day residents
– unforgettably in the form of the
Olympics’ 70,000 ‘Games Maker’
volunteers – showed how powerfully
this approach can connect the city
with both its residents and audiences
across the country and world. These
might well be looked to for inspiration,
as more and more Londoners tire of
the increasingly encroaching symbols
of the elites that – untouchably – share
the city with them. Manifestations such
as Kensington and Knightsbridge’s
‘ghost mansions’ – colossally expensive
addresses, even whole streets largely
deserted by their globe-trotting
international owners – and ubiquitously
soaring house prices and rents more
and more are points of friction.
With physical and mental space
so crowded, answers have to lie in
collaborative solutions. London’s
professionals are getting better at
mingling and co-working within their
respective disciplines, says Drury, ‘but
rare would be the networking event
where a psychiatrist might meet
a web developer.’ Or indeed urban
planner and sports consultant,
or retailer and theatre director, or
landscape designer and video artist,
or programmer and landlord…
N1’s newest landmark The Francis
Crick Institute promises to champion
multidisciplinary collaboration between
biologists, chemists, physicists,
engineers, computer scientists and
mathematicians. And London would
be well-served if this silo-swerving
spirit were to infect the whole city.
Its challenges increasingly need
sustainable, joined-up responses
that unite industry sectors, audiences,
service providers and sponsors.
HOW TO JOIN UP
SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER
MORE STRATIFIED CITY?
HOW TO JOIN UP SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER MORE STRATIFIED CITY?
With physical
and mental
space so
crowded,
answers
have to lie in
collaborative
solutions
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It’s happening elsewhere. In Curitiba,
Brazil, then-Mayor Jaime Lerner
led the development in 1974 of the
revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
system, a highly efficient network of
‘metronized’ buses using bus-only
lanes that simultaneously eased
chronic mobility issues and boosted
the city’s sustainability agenda.
23 years on, similar systems are in
place in 84 cities, and its adaptation
in the Colombian capital Bogotá has
also addressed unemployment by
guaranteeing tens of thousands of
residents timely passage across the
city. (‘In terms of transport,’ Bogotá’s
former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa has
said, ‘an advanced city is not one
where even the poor use cars, but
rather one where even the rich use
public transport.’) Other sector-
straddling solutions the visionary
city leader oversaw were schemes
that rewarded bags of trash with
bags of groceries, and a parkland
grass-trimming service delivered
by sheep. Another opportunity in
his sights has been finding ways for
office buildings to become multi-use
– ‘if we want to have a sustainable
world… you cannot have empty
places during 18 hours a day.’
INNOVATIVE
RESPONSES
TO THE GLOBAL
PROBLEMS OF
OUR TIME
INNOVATIVE RESPONSES TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME
Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transit
system is now in place in 84 cities
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INNOVATIVE RESPONSES TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME
The kind of voracious development
that has characterised the London
property market in recent years has
inspired collaborative solutions to
the associated problem of displacing
promising start-ups and creative-
industry studios in Sydney and Paris.
And with London’s creative industries
growing at three times the rate of the
economy generally, it’s a problem that
richly deserves a solution. ‘London
is going to lose 30 per cent of its
affordable work and maker space in
the next five years,’ says Matthieu Prin,
Researcher for creative economy
specialists BOP Consulting. ‘So this
is a big problem. But it’s happening in
many very expensive cities. In Sydney,
‘London is
going to lose
30 per cent of
its affordable
work and
maker space
in the next
five years...’
MATTHIEU PRIN, RESEARCHER,
BOP CONSULTING
the city is working with a Shanghai-
based developer on a project called
the Greenland Centre which will
provide space in the centre of town
for creative professionals focused on
delivering Sydney-specific products
and services.’ Prin also refers to
a current project in Paris, whose
centre long ago lost the kind of
informal cultural life that is so hard to
replace. The city council there is now
collaborating with creative industries
to support a new network of ‘Fabriques
de la Culture’, affordable workspaces
that will introduce artists and makers
to new local audiences and help
regenerate their neighbourhoods.
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‘In London there is a similar problem
with the loss of live music venues,’
continues Prin, who project-manages
BOP’s World Cities Culture Forum,
a global knowledge-sharing network
of cities who want to artistically and
economically empower culture in
their respective locations. ‘London has
always been very strong in alternative
and underground culture. Known as
the birthplace of punk and the home
of the rave movement, it has a cool,
edgy informal scene that is famous
around the world. And that seems
to us to be under threat because
of the way the city is developing.
City Hall is becoming more in tune
with this issue, and we have seen
some new developments which are
encouraging – for the first time, a new
kind of lease agreement has been
introduced. Tenants moving into the
new residential buildings next to the
Ministry of Sound nightclub in Elephant
and Castle must agree to clauses that
mean they are not allowed to complain
about the noise from the club.
‘But more broadly, we are concerned
that London may lose its edge. The
World Cities Culture Forum annual
summit will take place in London later
this year, and this is one of the main
issues we will debate, because it’s a
problem for all of the cities we work
with worldwide. And it’s complicated.
You can do deals with developers to
guarantee a certain amount of artists’
studios, or a cultural venue, but that
doesn’t necessarily lead to an exciting
or culturally conducive environment.
You want to make sure your city
doesn’t become sterile, like a
city-sized Canary Wharf.’
LOOKING OVER THE
EDGE – LONDON’S
LATEST CULTURAL
CHALLENGE
LOOKING OVER THE EDGE - LONDON’S LATEST CULTURAL CHALLENGE
‘You want to
make sure your
city doesn’t
become sterile,
like a city-sized
Canary Wharf’
MATTHIEU PRIN, RESEARCHER,
BOP CONSULTING
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The great news is, the World Cities
Culture Forum is just one of many
global networks dedicated to city-
to-city collaborations that address
the common challenges of our
unprecedentedly urbanised age,
making more and more examples of
innovative partnership accessible to
planners, policymakers, business and
thought leaders every year. ‘These kind
of exchanges started about 15 years
ago,’ says Prin. ‘An organisation called
United Cities and Local Governments
(UCLG) led the way, and the C40
environmental group has been very
effective.’ (Working independently of
their countries’ sustainability agendas,
the group is on target to reduce
their members CO2 emissions by
248 million tons by 2020.) ‘What
is great about these forums is that
they can sidestep all the diplomatic
sensitivities that operate at a national
governmental level and get on with
CITY-TO-CITY
NETWORKS – A
TRANSFORMATIVE
21ST-CENTURY TOOL
CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL
cooperating. Last year, for example,
we worked with Moscow, which was
a mutually informative and helpful
interaction with real benefits for
many citizens, while that kind of
policy exchange at a national level
between the UK and Russia would
currently be impossible.’
19

20. #BRANDLONDON
creativeunion.net
If Mayors Ruled the World, and this
October his cherished half-fantasy
of a Global Parliament of Mayors
becomes a reality, convening for
the first time, and welcoming leaders
from some 120 cities worldwide to
Bristol, but first of all to London.
‘From a City Hall perspective,’ says
Mike Clewley, Cultural Tourism Officer
for the Greater London Authority,
‘we have seen time and time again
that when you put creative thinkers
together and give them opportunities
to collaborate, everyone can win.
For us it’s about nurturing those
relationships, and ensuring that that
reflects on our city’s brand, that
London is a place that brings great
people together and makes great
things happen. I keep in mind an old
African proverb which says, “If you
want to travel quickly, travel alone.
But if you want to travel far,
travel together.”’
Citymart’s global procurement
model, ICLEI Local Governments for
Sustainability, New Cities Foundation,
Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge and
What Works Cities initiatives are
all players in this burgeoning new
area which has been described as
‘networked glocalism’. And more
are flocking to the table.
American political theorist Benjamin
Barber has long been proposing the
thesis that, given cities’ new power
and prominence, it is now mayors
rather than presidents and prime
ministers who are best-positioned
to solve the world’s most pressing
problems, together. Unbound by
the diplomatic caveats of sovereign
states whose political systems were
largely designed centuries ago, used
to putting ideology aside and being
held to account by their constituents
as pragmatic problem-solvers, they
operate within highly participatory
living models which must realise
democratic action every day. While
national leaders rarely reach 50 per
cent in trust ratings, mayors – those
women and men who are visible to
their citizens, and are swiftly out of a
job if they don’t solve civic problems
– regularly score approval figures of
75 or even 80 per cent. It’s an idea
Barber explains in his 2013 book
CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL
‘We have seen time and time again
that when you put creative thinkers
together and give them opportunities
to collaborate, everyone can win’
MIKE CLEWLEY, CULTURAL TOURISM
OFFICER, GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY
20

21. #BRANDLONDON
bluemarlinbd.com
Lisa McWilliam, General Manager
of brand design agency Blue Marlin
and self-described ‘global seeker’,
looks forward to co-created
urban development.
‘For me, London’s most exciting
quality right now is the freedom
entrepreneurs are feeling to
experiment. In terms of pop-ups
and food markets and quirky outdoor
events, it’s not who you know or
how much money you have behind
you, but whether you have the
courage and creativity to have a
go. And the audiences are loving it
and responding with really positive
energy. That spirit is shaping the
city in intriguing new ways, it’s like
a huge test bed. Other cities do it,
but London’s so multicultural that
the pop-up platforms amplify all that
intriguing diversity as nowhere else.
‘People have emotional relationships
with cities whether as residents
or visitors, just as they do their
favourite brands, and I look forward
to cities harnessing social media
as commercial companies have to
put their own brands in people’s
hands. Imagine linking Londoners’
adventurous, creative ideas via direct,
live connections with governing
bodies geared up to make the city
and its services more responsive.
And fun too, for example
having people’s responses to
the city digitally painting iconic
London settings, or landmarks
communicating with people through
their phones.
At the same time people would
connect with each other through
their points of view and feelings
about the city. London has a history
of adapting to change, and recreating
itself, and with the notable exception
of the property sector, it’s becoming
more and more democratic.
Co-created urban development
would be a great next step.’
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
‘London’s most exciting
quality right now is the
freedom entrepreneurs are
feeling to experiment’
21

22. #BRANDLONDON
london.gov.uk/culture
Mike Clewley, the Greater London
Authority’s Cultural Tourism Officer
explains how the Airbnb effect is
transforming experiences of London.
‘Of the millions of people who visit
London every year, 90 per cent only
make it to tourist attractions that are
in the top 20 – the British Museum,
Tate Modern, the London Eye… And
for some time we at the GLA have
wrestled with how best to encourage
guests to explore beyond Zone 1. But
online services and social media are
now creating a shift. With more than
40 million guests served, Airbnb is a big
part of this change. The concept really
identified the desire rising numbers
of travellers have for more authentic
experiences of their destinations,
and wanting to “live like a local”. Plus,
when people research places ahead
of their trips, they may now be guided
by friends’ Instagram and Facebook
pages as well as traditional tourism
information sources, so places one
person stumbles upon by accident or
finds through contact with Londoners
may inspire others to visit.
‘Around 90 per cent of Airbnb guests
say they are seeking local experiences,
and the company works with around
9000 properties in London now. And
about 70 per cent of these are outside
the areas where most hotels are
concentrated. So guests are staying
in Leyton and Haringey and Acton
and Brixton, in neighbourhoods rather
than commercialised districts. If their
hosts are live-in, they’re also very likely
to ask them for recommendations,
so suddenly there is tourist spend
within those local economies. So now
we’re looking at ways to help this kind
of traveller connect with less-known
landmarks and experiences as well
as great local restaurants, bars
and businesses.’
PLACES
‘Around
90 per cent
of Airbnb guests
say they are
seeking local
experiences’
PLACES
22

23. #BRANDLONDON
mark-london.com
Director of urban regeneration,
placemaking and independent retail
consultancy Mark London, Jenni
Carbins talks flexible spaces that help
young creative companies flourish.
‘Since the global financial crisis, the
City has for me ceased to look like
London’s future. It’s all about creative
and tech companies. And it’s landlords
and developers who are shaping
the city, whichever ones have the
foresight, vision and financial capacity
to develop their own microbrands
and micropositioning. Argent’s
masterstroke at King’s Cross was
to move in Central Saint Martins.
They’ll be making nothing from that,
but it guarantees they will have these
new, fresh, young, creative talents
moving into the area every year. In
perpetuity. Appear Here is another
company I love, they connect landlords
and creatives, a little bit like an Airbnb
of pop-up workspace. They’ve started
doing destinations too, like Pop Brixton,
and by working with Transport for
London they have transformed Old
Street Underground Station. About
150 tiny little microbusinesses got
their start in there last year.
‘The zeitgeist today is all about
flexibility. I do a lot of work with retail,
and staying dynamic and ready to
change is key to helping today’s
small companies make their mark.
And London’s make-up, its diverse
connected villages are a great
inspiration when it comes to creating
new destinations. I’m working with Here
East currently, the new incarnation of
the London 2012 Press and Broadcast
Centre. It’s a huge new home for
all kinds of makers, and its mix of
university and college departments,
broadcast facilities, creative start-
ups of all kinds of independent food,
drink and retail businesses, all served
by unrivalled tech support, is going to
create some really unique dynamics.’
IDEAS
IDEAS
‘Staying dynamic
and ready to
change is key’
23

24. #BRANDLONDON
creativeunion.net
CREDITS
A BIG THANK YOU
TO THE TALENTED
PHOTOGRAPHERS
FEATURED IN THIS
INSIGHT REPORT
BRO. JEFFREY PIOQUINTO, SJ
FLICKR : WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/90412460@N00/13190111314 4
ROBERTO ZAMPINO
WWW.ROBERTOZAMPINOPHOTO.COM 12, 14, 17, 18 20
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25. #BRANDLONDON
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