For 30 years it was Peter Rees’ job to shape a vision for the City of London. As chief planning officer during one of its most significant periods of growth, he’s arguably more responsible for the skyline in the Square Mile than any other individual.

Whatever you think of that increasingly busy skyline aesthetically, no one can deny that Rees’ policy has been a commercial success for the City. With its tallest building to date topping out this month, developers are still queuing up to build offices there.

Rees has since moved on to academia, taking up a post as Professor of Places at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning in 2014, where he is applying his strategic vision to the rest of London. And what he conjures up in his crystal ball is rather bleak.

…