Sustainable Street Fighter - Ep132: Jon Burke

This week's guest on Cleaning Up is Jon Burke. For six years, Jon was Councillor for the London Borough of Hackney, ending up as Cabinet Member for Energy, Sustainability, Transport and Public Realm. In the role, he oversaw the largest urban tree planting campaign in the UK, an extensive roll-out of low-traffic neighbourhoods, and established the borough’s first publicly-owned energy company in a century. In the process, Jon became a lightning rod for opposing views on urban transformation. Jon and Michael discuss the extraordinary power of trees to provide cooling in urban environments, Jon's shocking treatment at the hands of online trolls, and why he is so passionate about low-traffic neighbourhoods as a means to regenerate localities and protect their inhabitants.