When the UK Urban Futures Commission started, I set out three big questions for us to answer: What are cities? What do they need? How do we get them there?

Twelve months on, I believe the Commission has come up with some groundbreaking answers. But some of the findings in this report come as no surprise to local leaders like myself. We are well away of the latent potential that lies unleashed in cities like Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow.