Centre for Cities

City Talks: Laura Shoaf

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive, is joined by Laura Shoaf, former Chief Executive of West Midlands Combined Authority, former Managing Director of Transport for West Midlands, and currently a non-executive director at DfT and board member for TfL. They discuss the evolution of the devolution agenda since the start of Laura's career and what's needed for further progress.

City Talks: Labour Party Conference debrief

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive, is joined by Jess Tulasiewicz, Head of Public Affairs and Policy, and Director of Policy and Research Anthony Breach to recap Labour Party Conference 2026. They discuss our ‘In Conversation’ sessions with the mayors, implications from the leader’s speech and the atmosphere inside the secure zone.

City Talks: Mike Emmerich

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive, is joined by Mike Emmerich, Founding Director of Metro Dynamics and former Chief Executive of New Economy Manchester, to discuss his forthcoming book, The Knowledge Broker: Sir Howard Bernstein's Manchester and Lessons for National Renewal, due out in March 2027. They also discuss his independent devolution review, Bringing Dynamism into Place, which examines the institutional capability, leadership and partnerships needed to turn devolution into sustainable economic growth across the UK.

City Talks: Good growth in every postcode?

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Director of Policy and Research Anthony Breach to discuss good growth in every postcode, overnight visitor levies, corporation tax and why it should be part of the fiscal devolution debate and the roadmap that we'll see at the October budget.

City Talks: Summer and the city

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Jess Tulasiewicz, Head of Public Affairs and Policy, and Director of Policy and Research Anthony Breach to recap the many announcements that have come since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July. They discuss the significant shift of politicians to Number 10 North, devolution progress, tackling the NEETs challenge and what we expect will be coming next this autumn.

City Talks: Cities, net zero and green energy

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Jasbir Basi, Head of Corporate Affairs at SSE, to discuss cities, net zero, green energy and what's changed in the the two years since we published 'Accelerating net zero delivery: What can UK cities learn from around the world?'.

City Talks: High streets back on the agenda

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Oscar Selby, Analyst, to discuss The Government’s plans to give councils and communities the ability to tighten permissions needed for vape shops and refuse new betting shops on their high streets. They explore why high streets continue to be an important topic for successive governments and what it actually takes to regenerate a high street.

City Talks: Big devolution announcements

Director of Policy and Research Ant Breach is joined by Jess Tulasiewicz, Head of Public Affairs and Policy, and Oscar Selby, Analyst, to discuss the big devolution announcements that came last Friday. They discuss the seven-page document published by the Cabinet and breakdown some of the key changes that will be coming down the line and what they mean for people in their places.

City Talks: Lessons from Cleveland with Mayor Justin Bibb

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive, is joined by the Mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb, to discuss what lessons can be learned from Cleveland for UK mayors and local government.

City Talks: The new Prime Minister's plan for council housing

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Director of Policy and Research, and Maurice Lange, Senior Analyst, to discuss Andy Burnham’s emphasis on council house building and how it fits into the wider urban housing crisis. They discuss the scale of the shortfall in UK housing, the role of planning reform, and the practical implications of councils building more homes.

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City Talks: Burnham's urban agenda

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Director of Policy and Research, and Jess Tulasiewicz, Head of Public Affairs and Policy, to discuss the urban implications of Andy Burnham's latest speech where he laid out his vision for the country should he become the new Prime Minister.

City Talks: Different leaders, same fiscal devolution agenda

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Director of Policy and Research, and Oscar Selby, Analyst, to continue the conversation on the merits, importance and the detail of fiscal devolution. As we approach a change in leadership they discuss why the drive towards fiscal devolution must continue and what that might look like.

City Talks: The inclusive growth debate

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Rob Johnson, Senior Analyst, and Neela Parker-Talwar, Researcher, to discuss the current debate on growth and inclusion in big cities. Drawing on our recent publication Uneven Cities, which looked at how urban deprivation has changed over the last 15 years, the newly published Milburn Review, and examples such as Liverpool and Manchester, they discuss whether it is possible to achieve inclusive growth.

City Talks: Cities in the media

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Joshi Herrmann, founder and editor of Manchester Mill (Mill Media), Dave Hill, founder and editor of OnLondon, and Jane Haynes, politics and people editor at Birmingham Live, to discuss cities in the media. They explore how narratives about cities are formed, why they matter and whether they shape investment and policy.

City Talks: Devolution's next steps

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Ant Breach, Director of Policy and Research, to discuss devolution following the passing of the Devolution Act at the end of April. They cover what is included in the Act, what is missing - notably fiscal devolution - and how the Chancellor’s Mais lecture has added momentum to the case for it.

City Talks: What these elections could mean for local power

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Caitlin Rollison, External Affairs and Policy Manager, and Jess Tulasiewicz, Head of Public Affairs and Policy. They discuss the manifestos for the upcoming Scottish and Welsh elections as well as the English local elections and discuss what more politically diverse councils could mean for mayors.

City Minutes: The Croydon planning experiment

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Analyst Maurice Lange as well as Alison Coutinho (Mace Consult) and Guy Rochez (Town) who both worked for Croydon council between 2019 and 2022 when they were designing and implementing a new planning strategy to build more homes in the borough. Building off our recent research into the experiment, Croydon calling: Lessons on rules-based planning, they discuss what made the experiment successful as well as lessons learned.

City Minutes: Visitor levies around the world

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by External Affairs and Policy Manager Caitlin Rollison and Intern Zoe Johnson to discuss the findings of our latest briefing ‘Around the world: How do visitor levies work in other countries?'. As the Government looks to enable mayors to introduce visitor levies in England they dive into examples drawn from a range of countries and cities across the globe that have already implemented a levy.

City Talks: Death and life of British cities

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Alex Trew, Professor of Economics at the Adam Smith Business School at Glasgow University and David Nagy, Senior Researcher at CREI in Barcelona. As two of the four authors of the paper The Death and Life of Great British Cities they discuss how the specialisation and diversification of industries shapes cities.

City Talks: Perspectives on place

Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Will Jennings, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy as well as Dean for the faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton to discuss his latest paper Perspectives on Place: what the English think about their local area. Coming shortly after the publication of Cities Outlook 2026, which examined variation in disposable incomes and levels of deprivation across the country, the discussion delves into peoples pride in their places and what this can mean for boosting growth.

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