It's only a matter of weeks since I took up the role of chief executive of Centre for London. For the Centre's first decade, my predecessor Ben Rogers held the reins. He deserves enormous credit for building a think-tank with a reputation for new thinking and clear policy proposals focused on addressing the challenges facing London.

Even before the last tumultuous 18 months, London was not short of major public policy challenges. It's true that the last 30 years has seen unprecedented economic prosperity for the capital, with gleaming new skyscrapers on the skyline and tangible improvements in the city's transport infrastructure. Over this period, the city's declining population also reversed – there are now more than two million more Londoners than there were in the mid-1980s, and the city is bigger than it has ever been.