Andrew Stevens
City Mayors' Feature Writer

Andrew Stevens is a Fellow of the City Mayors Foundation and its Feature Writer & Urban Adviser. His occupational focus in local government has been in the areas of place strategy and marketing, particularly the role of cities in global public diplomacy. He also writes widely about the revitalization of local areas through sustainable growth and development, as well as common challenges of public service reform, governance, demographic change and the low carbon society.

Articles by Andrew Stevens
| Most recent | Government | Politics | Mayors | Environment | Transport | City branding | City Halls | Sport | Comments |


MOST RECENT
History and many post-war reforms
shape local government in the UK
10 April 2012: There is no single pattern of local government in the United Kingdom. Instead arrangements vary in the four ‘home nations’ of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, Wales and urban England, with the exception of London, single-tier unitary authorities provide all local services, whereas non-metropolitan England is served by a two-tier system split between district and county councils. More


GOVERNMENT
History and many post-war reforms
shape local government in the UK
10 April 2012: There is no single pattern of local government in the United Kingdom. Instead arrangements vary in the four ‘home nations’ of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, Wales and urban England, with the exception of London, single-tier unitary authorities provide all local services, whereas non-metropolitan England is served by a two-tier system split between district and county councils. More

England’s elected mayors
have performed rather well
21 January 2010: The debate surrounding the introduction of elected mayors in UK local government is one which has polarised both local government itself and the academic and policy communities the most among all others. Fewer topics elicit such vexatious argument and yet evidence-based debate is thin on the ground. More

British with a distinct Irish accent
9 March 2011: Local government in the Republic of Ireland predates its national political structures, with much of the constitutional arrangements laid down under British rule in the late nineteenth century remaining in place. More

With a little help
from our friends
19 February 2009: The challenges affecting the balance between central and local governments are common to all societies. Local councils the world over are concerned about finance, performance management and structural reform. However, recent evidence shows that Britain is one of the most centralised in the developed world when compared to its peers. More

Mayors from Africa, Asia
The Americas and Europe
29 January 2009: While urban settlements have been around for millennia, increasingly cities are beginning to acquire their own narratives and political importance, not only as places to live but also as drivers of national social values and economies with their own global networks. Though the agglomerative effects of cities as part of globalisation is widely understood and universal, city leadership models remain as diverse as ever, but with common trends on each continent: Africa, Asia, The Americas and Europe.

The City of London offers on one square mile
history, feudal governance and global finance
28 May 2009: The landmarks of the area covered by the historic City of London Corporation are known to many – St Paul’s Cathedral, the Old Bailey, and now the Swiss Re Tower, to name but three – but less is known about the Corporation itself. More

UK should make elected mayors focus of local government reform

English council leaders strengthened by new local government legislation

UK government studies
the case for city regions
15 December 2005: A London-based think tank with the ear of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has published proposals for a city region-based system of local councils in England, which have attracted the support of government and opposition alike. More

Demands for governance reforms
in London hit by partisan backlash
22 February 2005: The Commission on London Governance, a joint body established by the London Assembly and the Association of London Government, was formed in 2004 with the remit to examine the workings of all aspects of government in the capital and recommend an outline for reform. More

Question over EU voting rights adds to dispute between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar status


POLITICS
London 2012 elections:
Issues and candidates
22 January 2012: The fourth set of elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly since 2000 will take place on 3 May 2012. All three main candidates from the 2008 race are standing again in 2012. Since the 2008 elections, the London mayor has acquired significant new powers, particularly over policing. Voting for the mayor takes place under the preferential Supplementary Vote system. City Mayors takes a look at the race and the declared candidates. More

Liberal Democrats made to suffer
for unpopular government policies
7 May 2011: UK voters firmly rejected a proposal on voting reform and gave a slap in the face to the party who has long campaigned for it. The Liberal Democrats usually do well in local elections, but were punished this year for reneging on campaign promises in government, notably over tuition fees. Their senior coalition partner, the Conservatives, defended most of their heartland town halls and even made some modest gains, as voters channelled their frustration over spending cuts against the junior partner. The opposition Labour party made impressive gains in northern England, taking control of several key councils from the Liberal Democrats. More

Labour makes local gains
but loses general election
8 May 2010: While Britain’s Labour Party lost more than 90 parliamentary seats in the 6 May general election, voters in England, who elected new councils on the same day, provided a surprising return to form for the centre-left party in local government. More

Mayors and their
political parties
11 January 2010: We are living in the so-called century of the city and most cities are governed by elected mayors. But what political characteristics, if any, unite them? Over the past decade conservatives have scored a number of electoral successes across the world, with many citizens identifying with their messages on security, leaner government and lower taxes. However, research by City Mayors shows that many of the world’s largest and most prominent cities are still governed by mayors from the left or centre-left. More

Meltdown for Labour in English local elections

British expenses scandal dominates political debate


MAYORS
Japanese mayors
26 August 2011: Local government in Japan is composed of 47 prefectural governments (roughly akin to a county), each headed by a directly elected Governor (elected on a four year term) and 1,727 municipalities, each headed by a directly elected Mayor (elected likewise). More

Steve Bullock,
Mayor of Lewisham, London
7 February 2011: As with the other elected mayoralties in England, backwater boroughs like Lewisham in London were not the large city authorities the government had in mind when it introduced the reforms in 2000. However, Lewisham’s first elected mayor Sir Steve Bullock has played a leading role in the Southeast London council’s civic life for a quarter of a century. More

Ray Mallon, Mayor of Middlesbrough
7 February 2011: Alongside the so-called 'monkey mayor' in neighbouring Hartlepool, Middlesbrough's mayor 'Robocop' Ray Mallon has acted as something of a poster child for Labour's policy of elected mayors in England and his colourful pre-political history is as well known as his confrontational yet effective style of governing. More

Boris Johnson. Mayor of London
11 May 2010: London’s resolutely ‘young fogey’ mayor has undeniably made an impact on the British capital since his May 2008 election victory over two-term mayor Ken Livingstone.  Having gone from a controversy seeking journalist to national politician in less than a decade, Boris Johnson was a surprise choice for Conservative candidate for the capital’s mayoralty. More

Stuart Drummond, Mayor of Hartlepool
28 March 2011: Unusually for a civic leader, Hartlepool’s elected mayor is recognisable to most of the UK population, having been elected in 2002 on the back of a joke campaign, which attracted international attention. While Stuart Drummond may have once sought office for less than political reasons, his status as England’s only three term elected mayor shows that voters in the North East town are satisfied with his administration. More


ENVIRONMENT
RIBA President calls for stronger
recognition of New Urbanism
8 August 2004: A call from an outspoken leading British architect for urbanism to be recognised as a vocation in itself has shone a spotlight on the movement for New Urbanism. More


TRANSPORT
London Underground carries
three million people every day
12 June 2011: Heritage and modernisation are the watchwords for London’s tube network. The world’s first underground railway, between Paddington and Farringdon Street was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1863. Today, London Underground carries three million passengers a day across 275 stations on its 253 mile network. More

Berlin U-Bahn: rebuilding after
100 years of turbulent history
28 February 2009: Berlin’s Untergrundbahn (or U-Bahn) is a vibrant part of the German capital’s cityscape and something of a paradise for modernists. Begun in 1896, its history closely follows that of Germany itself, with two world wars and the post-war division of the city affecting its development. Today the network carries 1.4m passengers each day across nine lines serving 170 stations in the city. More

London’s transport network suffers from
under-investment and muddled strategy
5 August, 2007: A key element of the long awaited modernisation of London’s underground rail network, the so-called Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) deal has been behind many headlines, not least when Metronet, one of the consortiums set up to undertake the work, collapsed in July 2007. More


CITY BRANDING
Reunification with mainland China
has not hurt the Hong Kong brand
26 November 2011: The reunification of the former British colony and the Chinese mainland in 1997 was seen by some as the death knell for the investment hub as a global city. Yet careful branding and a robust economic offer underpinned by legal and political stability have seen Hong Kong prosper in its declared aim to be ‘Asia’s world city’, rivalled only by Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. The city also serves as an exemplar in smart city growth and urban living, with high standards of design and an educated workforce. More

The London brand:
2000 years young
6 October 2011: London may have long survived on Dr Johnson’s well-worn dictum that “there is all in London that life can afford” but it was iconography, which established it as the world city during the 20th century. As a nexus for world trade at the peak of the British Empire, the city remains pre-eminent as global hub in the 21st century, despite the occasional wobble and dented prominence following its de-industrialisation and struggle to find its place in the world. More

Tokyo promotes cool image
as it targets 2020 Olympics
19 July 2011: The name alone of Japan’s metropolis underlines its historic and political significance: Tokyo, or ‘eastern capital’. Having relocated the seat of government from the ‘western capital’ Kyoto to the ancient port of Edo in the 19th century at the behest of a modernized, open and newly unified nation, it was the capital’s post-war reconstruction which was to usher in the hyper-modernity which we all associate with Tokyo. Within Japan however, such modernity is often seen as a byword for inauthenticity or assimilation of the west. The Tokyo city brand is one of the world’s most embedded yet least studied. More

The Singapore brand offers
a thoroughly modern city
8 June 2011: Singapore as both an island entity and governed project, has long embedded branding practice into both of these elements. From the ‘Lion City’ free port of founder Sir Stamford Raffles in the 19th century, which became as Sir Winston Churchill later dubbed it the “Gibraltar of the East”, through to the modern-day independent city state Lee Kuan Yew guided under his tutelage from third world shantytown once populated by the “dregs” of Asia in 1965 to first world global hub today. More

City branding must reflect on
the past and point to the future
10 January 2011: City branding and identity of place have assumed centre-stage in policy debates around both economic development and urban leadership in recent years, as urban areas are forced to increasingly compete against each other for investment, talent and visitors. More


CITY HALLS
London City Hall
23 February 2005: It could be considered unusual to preface an article about one building with a commentary on another but the history of city government in the English capital is an unusual one.  But to begin to examine the current headquarters of the Greater London Authority’s City Hall, we should first consider the original home of London government, County Hall. More


SPORT
2012 London Olympics to regenerate
one of the poorest areas of the capital
4 April 2008: The 2012 Summer Olympics will take place in London, mostly in Stratford, an area of East London. The sailing events will be held in Weymouth and Portland, on the English south coast. More