Hello all –

Right. We have some detail on Brexit, the Affordable Housing & Viability Draft SPG and industrial strategy Green Paper are out, the London Finance Commission reports 27th Jan, the Housing White Paper is imminent, and Trump is in the House. All should be clear by February.

On the off-chance that there's still a wee bit of uncertainty, Future of London's 2017 focus is long-term, city-level and peer-led.

FoL's #Placemaking programme kicks off Feb 8th with a debate on definitions – followed by events, field trips, live research and a full-day conference on June 28th to find cross-sector common ground on valuing and delivering placemaking.

Following the release of our Build to Rent report, co-written with LSE's Kath Scanlon, we wrap FoL's 3-year Private Rented Sector work, part-funded by Oak Foundation and Trust for London, by reviewing effective tenant engagement and licensing impacts. Contact Head of Policy Jo Wilson to participate. Our other major new programme is on Smarter Cities; more on that shortly.

We also continue to support London's next generation of leaders. A warm welcome to FLL Round 15, launched 18th Jan. Leaders Plus continues its assessment of Deptford in Feb and FLL14 candidates will make their Placemaking Proposals for London on March 15th, kindly hosted by core sponsor GVA. Network members welcome!

You can also join us at City Hall Feb 7th for a Housing Zones Network session on Skills Strategies and to learn about the proposed Place Agency effort to fill skills gaps in boroughs (hzn@futureoflondon.org.uk).

There's loads of interesting work in the background too, but enough for now. Just a final shout-out to Project & Research Officer Olivia Russell, supporting our PRS work and coordinating our #DiversityPledge effort with the GLA - sign up and be one of the first 100 organisations and 1,000 individuals!

See you out there! 

Lisa Taylor
Chief Executive
#DiversityPledgeLDN