Without making moves, our energy and drive for change will be wasted. Our moves need to be embedded in our strategic approach and involve the unique strengths, talents and insights of our players. In this chapter I highlight a selection of moves to give a flavour of the bold, necessary and entirely doable changes that can happen right now to save our city. I have focused on the big areas that affect our daily lives where we have to make immediate and decisive changes: how we get around, where we live, what we do for work, how we make decisions. My list is not exhaustive. There will be other emergency moves we need to make and I invite you to develop your own.

In all this we have to make sure our moves are powerful, decisive, immediate and live up to the scale of the triple emergencies, that we see benefits not just in terms of carbon mitigation and adaptation but also social justice and nature recovery. The powerful element is exploring the connections between moves: how change in one area unlocks and accelerates change in another. We have to bring a sense of urgency and purpose to how we think and act. We need immediate changes that also build towards major system change in the decade ahead. The key emergency moves I explore below – car culture, cities economies, placemaking, aviation, nature and democracy – offer opportunities for all our players to act as emergency first responders and use our strategic approach.

Car-ism and how to beat it

Take a look outside your window. There is probably a highway or road – a long stretch of hard surface with painted lines, layered with aggregate and topped with asphalt, a sticky form of crude oil. But what do we actually see and think about when we look at a road? A convenient way to get to work, school and the shopping mall? A corridor of danger if you are a six-year-old or small mammal? Something that gives you a sense of freedom? A challenging obstacle to mobility for the vision impaired that divides you from surrounding communities? A place to meet and flirt, show off your driving skills, or get an adrenaline rush?