Looking to the future

Some of the major decisions that will affect London in the decades beyond 2026 need to be taken during the timespan of this plan. This reflects, for example, the fact that major new transport infrastructure schemes take many years from conception to implementation.

Although there is less certainty about the longer term, the changes discussed above seem likely to continue and to be mutually reinforcing. Globalisation will continue to stimulate growth in global cities that will attract high levels of investment, the leading edge of technological innovation and in-migration of people attracted by growth and quality of life. The imperative of sustainable development will grow ever stronger as problems such as climate change become more inescapable. The best use of the land and infrastructure and of natural resources that already exists in major cities will be the obvious policy response.