In 2019 the Regional and Urban Planning Studies programme and LSE London jointly organised a series of events called London Talks. The series, aimed at bringing together practitioners and academics, addressed contemporary topics for the capital.

The premise of this series was that London was (and is still) experiencing important changes: the Draft London Plan, Brexit, the housing crisis, the proliferation of short-term letting and climate change. Many of these issues were not local to London nor to the United Kingdom. Cities across the world are experiencing pressure from rising house prices, marked increases in short-term letting and the spectre of climate change. And since then, cities have been facing many challenges, including the appearance of Covid-19.

In this series of talks, we brought together LSE academics, policy makers and community activists to have a conversation around key issues impacting on London. Each talk lasted between 10 to 15 minutes to let enough room for a conversation with the public. Our talks brought in a wide variety of people, from planning and housing professionals to students to the general public.

To capture the essence of each talk, we have asked speakers to tell us about a place in London that was emblematic to their work. The result is a collection of fifteen places, all mapped here and assembled in our new report London Talks: a journey through London.

In this report, each entry contains a brief post about the evening’s topic and then a series of mapped reflections on the subject by our invited speakers. The generosity and commitment of our speakers are reflected in each piece, emphasising how tangible and practical some academic topics can be.

We encourage you to re-visit these places through the lens of the themes explored in our report. Perhaps will you want to add to these commentaries or add your own to the map?