On 19 November, Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf issued a challenge to City financiers at the launch of Financing Tomorrow's Cities, a recent Long Finance project created by the City of London Corporation with support from Z/Yen Group. As the Lord Mayor pointed:

The world of 2050 will have 9 billion people in it, of which three quarters will live in cities. These people will need housing, sanitation, energy, public transport and telecommunications. All of this will have to be provided in a resource depleted, warming world and solving these problems will require vision. The UK has the engineering, architectural and technical skills to help weave this vision. The City of London has the financial, legal and insurance expertise to make this vision a reality.

The Lord Mayor's presentation was followed by a lively panel discussion with senior representatives from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, Future Cities Catapult, Lloyd's and Skanska and the audience was able to kick in with a few questions too.

Financing Tomorrow's Cities aims to discuss and encourage innovative financing mechanisms, risk management products and engineering solutions for tomorrow's cities through shared research, a series of events and online discussions.

Don't miss our next event, a Long Finance Symposium titled "Measuring Up Cities" with the Lord Mayor and speakers from academia which will take place on 30 January 2014 at the Museum of London. To register for this event, please click here.