FUTURE CITIES FORUM

Vice-President of The National Churches Trust and broadcaster, Huw Edwards has been drawing attention to the state of decay among many of Britain's historic churches: 'The UK's historic churches and chapels are a vital part of our national heritage. But to survive, many need to carry out urgent repairs and install modern facilities. The cost of this work is far beyond what most congregations can pay for themselves.' In 2018, the National Churches Trust awarded grants of £1.2

Numbers of domestic visitors to London are falling according to the Mayor of London who has rallied business organisations to promote the capital across the UK. Tourism supports around 700,000 jobs in the capital, but while London remains one of the most visited cities in the world with 32 million tourists in 2017 generating almost £26 billion for the economy, only 12.2 million of visitors cam from England, Scotland and Wales. Day visits to London reduced by 3% during 2017 an

RIBA North's black façade rises up against the famous Liver Building (above) We are delighted that Mark Kitts, Chief Executive Officer of Liverpool Foundation Homes, the city's new ethical housing company, will be speaking at our Future Cities Forum at RIBA North in February. The forum will look at regeneration in the north of England with discussions on housing, culture and tourism developments, place-making, sports stadiums as catalysts and transport. Mark has worked for Li

Barcelona town hall. Is the party over for Barcelona? The successful campaign to position the Catalan city as a mecca for art lovers and tourists has started to create a crisis for residents and politicians alike. At our most recent forum with the Mayor of London's Chief Digital Officer, Theo Blackwell, we discussed how residents were starting to use data to monitor noise levels in the residential areas of the Spanish city. Noise is just one problem of the tourism invasion th