Contributor(s): Professor Henry G. Overman, Alexandra Jones, Adam Marshall | Britain’s cities are facing profound challenges – both in the short run as a result of the recession and in the long run as a result of underlying structural change. In this lecture Henry Overman considers the nature of these challenges and considers what urban policy should do to help cities effectively respond to them. Henry Overman is Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE and Director of the Spatial Economics Research Centre. Alexandra Jones has been Chief Executive of the Centre for Cities since 2010. Prior to this, Alexandra led Ideopolis, the Cities team at The Work Foundation and worked in the former Department for Education and Employment. Adam Marshall was named Director of Policy and External Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce in July 2009. In this role, he represents the accredited UK Chamber network - with 104,000 companies employing over 5 million people - in Whitehall, Westminster, Brussels and the media. He holds degrees from Yale University (BA) and the University of Cambridge (MPhil, PhD). The Spatial Economics Research Centre is based at the LSE and aims to provide high quality independent research to further understand why some regions, cities and communities prosper, whilst others do not. Research will focus on why there are disparities in economic prosperity at all spatial levels including regional, city-region, local and neighbourhood. LSE Works is a series of public lectures, that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's Research Centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy. A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed online.