 Hello and good evening. Good evening. I have to start with a confession. I'm not the chairman of the board of the House and Society. So if you are disappointed, let me tell you I share your disappointment. What can I do? Anyway, it is my great pleasure to step in for Paul Achleitner, who's down with flu. And it's my pleasure to welcome you here on the third urban age 10 years global debate. The society, the Alfred Hauser society, ladies and gentlemen, was set up in memory of the former CEO of Deutsche Bank, Alfred Herrhausen, who was assassinated 26 years ago this month and who was much more than a banker. He was a philosopher, a statesman, and a great moral authority. So I would like to say also a word of welcome to the members of the board of trustees of the Alfred Hauser Society. And it's a great pleasure to see you here tonight. The Herrhausen Society, ladies and gentlemen, is based in Berlin. And this mission is to provide a unique forum for discussion and research around very fundamental issues facing the world we live in. As we developed, it became clear that urbanization was a phenomenon which deserved our particular focus. Over the past 10 years, the Urban Age Project has become a sort of flagship for us. It's been the result of a close partnership with Ricky Burdett, Richard Sennett, and all their colleagues at the LSE cities. We have hosted conferences in cities all over the world, and we've welcomed heads of states, government ministers, civic leaders, planners, architects, and many other experts. And we've discussed many critical aspects of urban life, the opportunities, but also the challenges facing the cities of the future. We have joined forces with the LSE and the Urban Age family to find better solution for cities. And I would like to thank you all for this. At Urban Age, I appreciate in particular that we perceive reality not as we are meant to perceive it, but as it is. And when we look back the 10 years, we must ask ourselves where our recommendations write at the time and what has become of them. I'll give you an example. The first Urban Age conference in 2005 in New York supported the project of the High Line, which already now is a success story. Another example, the former and for the last two weeks re-elected mayor of Bogota, Enrique Pena Lossa, was one of the inventors of the metro bus lines that now run so successfully in Istanbul, in Johannesburg, Sao Paulo. And we have always supported this concept. In my view, city planning must not overplan the future. It must leave room for future developments. I see a city as a sort of palimpsest, an ancient or medieval manuscript that has been repeatedly erased and written on again and again. It contains the current text, but also the traces of previous texts. This can be seen well in London, a city where the traces of the past can be seen, but which lives, which lives in the here and now, and is already planning for the future. So let me conclude. I'm happy to be part of this Urban Think Tank. We will continue our successful work. And now, Ricky, the floor is yours.