Urban Age Debates: Cities in the 2020s | Socialising Remote Work
Channel: UrbanAge
Date: 2021-02-05

Live Event Recording | Urban Age Debates: Cities in the 2020s 
Socialising Remote Work: will changing patterns in knowledge work reduce or amplify the human need to meet in cities?

Cities have traditionally been the sites of economic agglomeration, reaping the benefits of a high concentration of economic activity, spurred by collaboration and innovation. However, the effect of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have forced offices to close, city centres to empty, with many knowledge workers operating from the safety of their homes.

While some trends indicate a return to office-based work patterns (which will be accelerated by access to a vaccine), some commentators welcome the greater personal flexibility and access to the global talent pool afforded by virtual technologies. The debate interrogates the impacts of the dramatic shift in working conditions, how sites of knowledge work have adapted, and how cities can maintain their economic and cultural vibrancy without negatively impacting on productivity, connectivity and personal freedom. #UrbanAgeDebates

Hosted by LSE Cities, the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft and the LSE School of Public Policy

More information about this event series can be found here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Cities/events/2021/Urban-Age-Debates.

Speakers:
Richard Florida is a Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy at the University of Toronto School of Cities and Rotman School of Management and a Distinguished Fellow at New York University’s Schack School of Real Estate. He is the author of The Rise of The Creative Class, and more recently, The New Urban Crisis.

Ayesha Khanna is the co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator. She also serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Singapore government’s agency that develops and regulates its technology sector, digital economy and Smart Nation vision.

Janina Kugel is the former Chief Human Resources Officer and a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG. She serves as a non-executive board member of Konecranes Oy, Finland and the German Pension Benefit Guarantee Association and is a member of the international Advisory Board of Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany and IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

Chair:
Camilla Cavendish is a journalist and Contributing Editor at the Financial Times. She was the Director of Policy for Prime Minister David Cameron and now sits in the House of Lords as an independent peer. She is the author of the 2019 book "Extra Time: Ten lessons for an ageing world," which is now being read in 16 countries, and she is currently a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.