Changing London: A Rough Guide for the Next London Mayor - Softcover

Will Horwitz; David Robinson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907994475 ISBN 13: 9781907994470

Publisher: London Publishing Partnership, 2015

Synopsis

Changing London is a rough guide for the next Mayor, capturing the radical but practical ideas of the people of London with a pioneering and collaborative approach to ​​politics. 

 Via a small website the authors asked Londoners for ideas using the formal powers of the mayoralty and also the “super powers” – the voice, the visibility and the unique capacity to convene. This book brings together hundreds of suggestions, plus experiences learnt from cities around the world, under five big visions for London. 

 What would the city look like if we determined to make it the best place on earth to raise a child? Or if it was a friendly city, where neighbourhoods thrived and everybody mattered? How could we build a fair city where lavish wealth is as unwelcome as abject poverty and both have been abolished? Or maybe  a healthy city, that did no harm and tackled sickness at source? And, to lead it all, how should we revitalise and retool a sham democracy which saw only 38% vote in the last mayoral election?

Ideas range from play streets to plotting sheds, London Sundays to a Have-a-Go Festival, a permanent Fair Pay Commission, a Children’s Trust Fund and a cultural guarantee for every child, citizens budgets, a Mayor's Share in the biggest businesses and the April Vote – an annual London referendum.

 These and hundreds more are not a manifesto for the next mayor but a rough guide – a glimpse of how our city could look if we dared to gaze beyond the cautious consensus that has infected Westminster debate, and if we reclaimed the city as a place we share and build together. 

This is the book the voters wrote. It is vital reading for those who would be Mayor and those who will decide.   

 www.change-london.org.uk

About this title

About the Author

David Robinson is a community worker and a father of three. He has lived in east London all his life and been involved in social change in lots of different ways but mostly worked for Community Links www.community-links.org , a charity he set up many years ago. David also co founded Shift, www.shiftdesign.org.uk and the Children's Discovery Centre www.discover.org.uk Will Horwitz has lived in east London for seven years. He has worked as a researcher and campaigner for charities including Oxfam and Community Links, and in 2015 went back to university to study political economy. He can occasionally be found on twitter @willhorwitz

Edition details

• Publisher: London Publishing Partnership
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1907994475
• ISBN 13: 9781907994470
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192