Our New Book: ‘London of the Future’

You can be part of the most important book on London to be published this year.

One hundred years ago The London Society published the seminal ‘London of the Future’, a bold and visionary work, covering topics including city-centre airports and channel tunnels, as well as concerns about pollution, housing and access to public space.

We’re creating the second version and we want you to be part of it.

This new book will set out how our city could and should improve over the next century. Some of the issues of the original work remain potent today, but there are many new questions and considerations that the twentieth-century authors couldn’t foresee.

Will the City become a Venice-like heritage park for tourists?; or be an independent state? Could local food production feed the capital? How will we need to adapt to climate change? Will we become a techno-utopia, with Londoners’ lives in perfect harmony with Artificial Intelligence? How do we get a London that is fair and equitable for everyone?

Nothing is certain except that anything is possible.

London of the Future will offer dynamic 100-year thinking from a range of voices about how our city provides for all of its occupants and its role on a larger global stage. To be published by Merrell in the autumn, the book will be approx 240 pages, 245×180 mm, hardback with approx 50 illustrations. Find out more about the project here.

Everyone who contributes to the crowdfunding appeal will be listed as a ‘supporter’ in the new book (plus receiving a copy of the book of course). There is a range of other rewards including invitations to the launch party, reprints of the original edition, life membership of The Society and more.

Contributors include

• Peter Murray: author, editor and cofounder of New London Architecture
• Baroness Lawrence: campaigner, founder of the Stephen Lawrence Memorial Trust and life peer
• Tony Travers: Visiting Professor in LSE Department of Government and Director of LSE London
• Carolyn Steel: architect and author of ‘Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives‘ and ‘Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World‘
• Sarah Ichioka: urbanist, strategist, curator and writer
• Anna Minton: writer, journalist and Reader in Architecture at UEL. Author of ‘Big Capital: Who is London for?‘
• Yasmin Jones-Henry: writer, strategist, consultant with specialisms across sustainability, design, fashion & culture
• Hugh Pearman: a London-based architectural writer, editor and consultant. Author of several books including ‘Contemporary World Architecture‘ and ‘About Architecture: An Essential Guide in 55 Buildings‘
• Mark Stevenson: ‘Reluctant Futurist’ and strategic advisor to governments, NGOs and corporates
• Roma Agrawal: structural engineer and author of ‘Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures‘ and ‘Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (In a Big Way)‘
• Claire Bennie: director of Municipal, a consultancy which helps visionary public landowners to deliver better quality new homes at the right pace and price
• Indy Johar: architect, co-founder of 00 (project00.cc) and a Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation and Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield
• Kat Hanna: urbanist and researcher, and Director, Strategic Advisory and Place Strategy for Avison Young
• Gillian Darley: architectural historian and President of the Twentieth Century Society
• Jude Kelly: CEO and founder of The WOW Foundation, and formerly Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre
• Mark Brearley: architect, manufacturer, professor at London Metropolitan University and author
• Smith Mordak: Director of Sustainability and Physics at engineers Buro Happold
• Neal Shasore: historian and Head of School and Chief Executive of the London School of Architecture
• Grafton Architects: an international architecture studio based in Dublin, Ireland

Find out more and discover the ways in which you can support publication by visiting our crowdfunder page here.