Building better integrated communities: Mayoral conference

On 14 November the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, hosted the first ever Social Integration Conference at City Hall. It brought together city leaders and Mayors from across Europe to discuss how to build better, more unified communities.

Watch the conference

We filmed the whole conference throughout the day. Please note, some of the speeches will not be in English.

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About the conference

We want to make sure that people from different faiths, ethnicities, socio-economic groups and generations can relate to each other as neighbours and citizens. We want to help local communities deal with the pressures that come from rapid economic and social change.

If we don't try to deal with tensions within communities we risk holding back economic growth and limiting life chances. In the UK it's estimated that a lack of social integration costs the economy £6 billion, and leads to an increase in prejudice, unemployment and the fear of crime.

In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in September, Sadiq argued that city leaders should play an active role in supporting social integration.

This one-day conference begins this work. Mayors, city leaders and policy experts from across Europe will discuss how we can build better communities.

Agenda for the day

Time	Subject	Speakers
9:30 - 10:00	Introductory speech	Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
10:00 - 11:00	Discussion: Open cities, strong communities: Why integration matters	Chair: Sonia Sodha, The Observer Karin Wanngård, Mayor of Stockholm Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham Cllr Nickie Aiken, Chair of Westminster City Council Community Cohesion Commission David Robinson, Founder, Community Links
11:15 - 12:15	Discussion: Designing city spaces to promote community, connection and belonging	Chair: Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol James Murray, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor of New York for Housing and Economic Development Dr Noha Nasser, Director, Mela Social Enterprise
12:15 - 13:00	Keynote speech: Making London a city of communities Followed by a Q & A session	Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of the Arts Q & A led by Matthew Ryder, Deputy Mayor of London for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Communities
14:00 - 14:45	Speech Followed by a Q & A session	Richard Sennett, Centennial Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics and Professor of the Humanities, New York University Q & A led by Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
15:00 - 16:00	Breakout policy discussions - outlined below
	1. Measuring how we live together	Chair: Hugh Muir, The Guardian Professor Ted Cantle, Institute for Community Cohesion Professor Miles Hewstone, Oxford Centre for the Study of Intergroup Conflict, University of Oxford Timothy Phillips, CEO, Beyond Conflict Jon Yates, Director, The Challenge Irena Guidikova, Intercultural Cities Programme Manager, Council of Europe
	2. Reassessing the role of cities in national citizenship	Chair: Elizabeth Collett, Director, Migration Policy Institute Europe Yvan Mayeur, Mayor of Brussels Patrick Klugman, Deputy Mayor of Paris for International Relations Sonia Lin, Policy Director, NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Robert Annibale, Global Director, Citi Community Development Phoebe Griffith, Associate Director of Migration, Integration and Communities, IPPR
	3. Creating new city spaces for bridging generational and social divides	Chair: Alex Smith, CEO, North London Cares & South London Cares Raymond Johansen, Governing Mayor of Oslo Daniël Termont, Mayor of Ghent Alana Margaret Officer, Senior Health Adviser, World Health Organisation Professor Anthea Tinker CBE, Professor of Social Gerentology, Institute of Gerontology, King’s College London Torsten Bell, Director, Resolution Foundation
	4. New city strategies for overcoming economic exclusion	Chair: Professor Shamit Saggar, Professor of Public Policy, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex Michael Häupl, Mayor of Vienna Karin Wanngård, Mayor of Stockholm Marik Fetouh, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux for Equality and Citizenship David Goodhart, Head of Demography, Immigration and Integration, Policy Exchange Marc Stears, CEO, New Economics Foundation
16:15 - 17:15	Discussion: New city strategies for migrant and refugee integration	Chair: Mary Riddell, The Telegraph Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam Georgios Kaminis, Mayor of Athens Fernando Medina, Mayor of Lisbon Sasha Havlicek, CEO, Institute for Strategic Dialogue Dr Sarah Spencer CBE, Director, Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity and Senior Fellow, Centre for Migration, Policy and Society, Oxford University

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