Contributor(s): Lord Richard Rogers, Bruce Katz, Professor Anne Power, Julia Unwin | This discussion will debate the issues arising from a new book Phoenix Cities which examines seven cities from very different regions of the EU, comparing them with the US experience. Their dramatic decline, intense recovery efforts and actual progress on the ground underline the significance of public underpinning in times of crisis. Innovative enterprises, new-style city leadership, special neighbourhood programme, skills development, environmental reclamation are all explored. The American experience shows that cities left largely to their own devices deliver a slower, more uncertain recovery. The discussion will explore where next for Phoenix Cities, given the economic shocks, the pressures of climate change and the social inequalities that sharply divide these recovering cities.