Journal of the London Society 2021 (no. 475) by London Society

JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2020

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

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The Aim of the Society is to stimulate a wider concern for the beauty of the capital city, for the preservation of its charms and the careful consideration of its developments

WHY DO WE EXIST? We believe that London's future must be shaped by contemporary culture as well as its rich and layered history WHAT WE DO Celebrate and enjoy the capital’s culture and architectural history. Debate how we plan a future that is beautiful, sustainable and fair HOW WE DO IT Engage Londoners with how the capital is designed and planned through tours, walks, talks and debates

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EDITOR Helen Parton SUB EDITOR Mark Service

Alpa Depani

ART DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGN Lucy Smith, HTA Design LLP

PRESIDENT HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO CHAIR Peter Murray VICE CHAIRS Neil Bennett Darryl Chen HON SECRETARY Martha Grekos HON TREASURER Barry Coidan

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Michael Coupe Diane Cunningham Alpa Depani Rob Fiehn Dave Hill Nick McKeogh Helen Parton Mark Prizeman Andrew Reynolds Lucy Smith Eric Sorensen DIRECTOR Don Brown EVENTS COORDINATOR Rowena Ellims

The London Society Registered Charity 206270 Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED Views expressed within the Journal are those of the individual writers and not necessarily those of the London Society as a whole.

To contribute to the next issue, please email editor@londonsociety.org.uk

Cover illustration – Alpa Depani

londonsociety.org.uk

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CONTENTS CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION Peter Murray FEATURES SHARING IS CARING Kyle Buchanan

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REGULARS A LONDON NOTEBOOK Geoff Tuffs

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FROM THE ARCHIVES Mark Prizeman

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LEADING LIGHTS Sarah Gaventa

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20 BEST LONDON RECORDS Your top choices

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FLOATING POINTS Denizen Works

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BOOK REVIEWS

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SOUND OF THE SUBURBS Jonathan Manns

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WALL STORIES Gareth Gardner

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OPINION A REBIRTH FOR ST PAUL’S Yorgo Lykouria

The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs Reviewed by Rob Fiehn

The Walker. On Finding and Losing Yourself in the Modern City Reviewed by Roxane McMeeken Underground Cities - New Frontiers in Urban Living Reviewed By Rob Fiehn Vic Keegan’s Lost London Reviewed by Don Brown

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London’s Mayor at 20: Governing a Global City in the 21st Century Reviewed by Martha Grekos

HEALTH MATTERS Hala El Akl

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OUTER SPACES Richard Upton

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LONDON SOCIETY THE YEAR AHEAD

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DEBUNKING DENSITY & DISEASE P44 Earl Arney

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2020

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CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

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BANISTER FLETCHER LECTURE 2020

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CASE STUDY DESTINATION DINING Ben Masterson-Smith

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BLACK AND WHITE TOWN Anita Chaudhuri

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ALL CHANGE AT DOCKLANDS Glenn Howells

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BLOCK PARTY Andrew Beharrell

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RYE OBSERVATIONS Alexander Owen Architecture

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APPG UPDATE: SUBURBAN TASKFORCE Jonathan Manns

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HOW TO JOIN

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London Society Chair Peter Murray introduces our headline theme for 2021: Change are within a quarter of an hour’s walk from one’s home. Then came the concept of what Williams called the ‘remote revolution’ where significant numbers of people move to lower density areas beyond the M25, happy to commute further to find somewhere with space and clean air but do so less often. Finally came the idea that economic growth might even accelerate which he described as ‘agglomeration plus’.

As London is hit by the triple whammy of Covid-19, Brexit and the levelling up of the UK economy, we are inevitably going to see major structural change in the capital. In the face of potential reductions in commuting levels, population, investment and visitors it seems appropriate that the Society should choose ‘Change’ as its theme for the year’s programme. Early on in the pandemic, I had a conversation with Alex Williams, director of City Planning at TfL, and he talked about the five scenarios that the transport authority was studying to see how they should respond. The first scenario was a quick bounce back to normality, something which after the recent spike in deaths and the threat of future variants of the coronavirus seems increasingly unlikely.

Williams stressed the difficulties of forecasting in such a fast-changing environment and as we move to a time where the majority of the population will be vaccinated against future infections the debate about where and how we will work in the future still goes on. There is uncertainty about the reduction in population as a result of Brexit and Covid-19 - although we are seeing reductions in rental levels which are reportedly encouraging younger people back to the centre.

Second, he described a scenario where London has to fend for itself, there is a lack of investment in the capital and we see a situation similar to that of the post-war period when population declined and the economy struggled with the loss of employment in manufacturing and the docks. Third, was the idea that with the increase in home working we would see a rise in what he called “lowcarbon localism” where we would all live and work more locally - a policy enunciated in a recent Society webinar by Carlos Moreno, the planner behind the idea ‘the Fifteen Minute City’ where all essential amenities

The impact on the areas most hard-hit is deep and likely to be long lasting. The City of London and Westminster have been ghost towns for over a year, retailers are evacuating the Central Activity Zone in droves, the damage done to the cultural sector is heartbreaking and the chances of a return to pre-pandemic levels of visitors seems a way off, given the slow progress of vaccination across the world and the fear of new variants.

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Alpa Depani

the post-pandemic world. The London Array is the largest wind farm in the world, the Ultra Low Emission Zone has hugely reduced pollution in the centre of the city and is due to be extended. The number of cycleways has doubled during 2020 and we are committed to being Zero Carbon by 2050. Oxford Street is being transformed into greener and more welcoming public spaces.

While one can be pretty sure there will be an increase in home working in the future - an acceleration of changes that were happening before Covid-19 struck - if London is to retain its preeminent role as a global business centre, which is surely a prerequisite of the Prime Minister’s idea of Global Britain, then the centre must stay strong. It is encouraging to see the vigour with which the Corporation of London and Westminster Council are now responding to the challenge.

Although behind schedule, the Elizabeth Line will be a welcome boost to the London economy and movement, as will HS2 and the development of Old Oak Common. Areas of regeneration will surely continue such as the Olympic Legacy at Stratford, Greenwich Peninsula, Thamesmead, Meridian Water and White City. East London will be boosted by the move of the City Markets to Dagenham, by the development of new film studios and the new Freeport. Underlying these physical changes is a real commitment to ensuring that as we do so we create a fairer, more diverse and equitable city, resilient, sustainable and inclusive.

The London Society has always understood the continuum of the capital’s development and how the past informs the future. We have celebrated London’s resilience and its ability to adapt to changing circumstance. We can take heart that the fundamental strengths of London as an international hub of commerce remain - the ease of business, our legal structure, our language and diversity of languages, the level of trust and our time zone. Only last December the Institute for Urban Strategies found that London remained one of the world’s most magnetic cities based on its ability to attract people, capital and global businesses.

We concur with the sentiment of Sir Christopher Wren which he carved on the south transept of St Paul’s after the twin catastrophes of the Great Plague and the Great Fire, “Resurgam” - “I shall rise again”.

As we are exhorted to build back better we should not forget that London is one of the greenest big cities in the world. 47 per cent is green and we enjoy over 3000 parks, spaces which will be of even greater significance in

To keep up to date with the Society’s events for 2021, see our newsletter, or visit: londonsociety.org.uk/events 03

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Archio’s Kyle Buchanan talks about what the pandemic can teach London about sharing

London is facing a time of great change. Notwithstanding the immediate impacts of the pandemic and our changed relationship with Europe, London is predicted to grow by 2 million people over the next three decades. Efforts to house the burgeoning population will have a transformative impact on the city, and by 2050 London will be taller and denser than ever before. Even before the pandemic, London could be a difficult place to live. Beset by perennial problems of traffic, air pollution and safety, London’s lowly 41st position in the 2019 Mercer Quality of Living City Ranking suggests systemic issues. In the last year, London’s centre of gravity has shifted away from business districts to neighbourhood centres, which has provided an opportunity to reflect on the role that our homes and communities, or the deficiencies in them, have on our wellbeing and our collective experience of the city. In many ways the pandemic has changed our assumptions about how the city should grow. As London begins its recovery, the Mayor has called on us to build on the community spirit shown over the last difficult year, and to strive for a city “where we have economic opportunity, thriving neighbourhoods and improved wellbeing for all.” How then can we seize this moment for positive change and ensure London retains the vibrancy that has made it a world leading city, whilst also being a better place to live?

Brick Lane, London Photo by John Cameron on unsplash.com @john_cameron

Housing density at the level needed to meet London’s demand means flats, accompanied by an increase in shared space and amenities. The key to a more liveable, sustainable, and denser London will rest on our ability to 4

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share the city’s limited space and resources, whilst fostering the social interactions and mutual support that come from being part of an active community. Conventional wisdom tells us that sharing space is not something that comes easily to the English. However domestic tropes, like the insular suburban home, are becoming increasingly removed from the way many people live. The reality of how we use our homes is more nuanced than the generic nature of much new housing would suggest. Sharing is not as alien to Londoners as we might think and could be the key to making London a better place to live after the pandemic. One way this has manifested in London in recent years is through a significant increase in community-led housing groups. Housing models such as co-housing and community land trusts have become a way for residents to take direct action to meet the housing needs of their communities. This has been supported by the Community Housing Fund and the Mayor’s ‘Small Sites’ land disposal programme, much of which has been targeted at community groups. In parallel, there has been an increase in ‘co-living’, which differs from co-housing to the extent that it tends to be implemented by commercial developers rather than community groups. In London this model has been predominantly aimed at young professionals who are prepared to trade reduced private space for more shared space and organised group activities with other residents. The model has attracted a certain amount of scepticism and accusations that it is a symptom of, rather than a solution to, the housing crisis. However, elsewhere in Europe co-living has been used successfully in community-led development, 5

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for example in intergenerational co-living flats at the Mehr als Wohnen housing cooperative in Zurich. Shared-living schemes deliver practical benefits that come from sharing space with neighbours, including communal ancillary space like laundry rooms or spare bedrooms. However, there is also increasing acknowledgement of the mental health benefits that come from living as part of an active community, and this is perhaps the key advantage of shared living. The pooling of domestic resources is not limited to space in our homes, and there are signs of a growing sharing economy as the economic and environmental benefits of sharing rather than owning become clear. The emergence of car-clubs and ride-shares are one example, as is the increasing prevalence of ‘libraries of things’, where household objects which are expensive or bulky are collectively stored and used. The pandemic has underscored the need for every home to have access to private outdoor space, as well as the need for high quality spaces and facilities between and around homes. Designing and programming outdoor spaces that facilitate shared uses, whether through play streets, communal gardens or more indeterminate parts of the public realm, has a significant positive impact on people’s experience of the area they live in. Even sharing these spaces with the city’s non-human inhabitants has benefits, and like the people of a community, exposure to nature supports good mental health and quality of life. To take full benefit of this we need to do more to share the city with nature and make the most of existing natural assets such as trees, water and wildlife habitats, as well as creating new green spaces where wildlife and people can co-exist. As the city increases in density, creating high-quality local neighbourhoods will become more and more important. Greater flexibility towards homeworking seems set to be one enduring outcome of the pandemic. Even before Covid-19, the 2019 Modern Families Index identified that 86% of working parents want to work flexibly, including working from home. More homeworking means that people will be spending more time in the areas around their homes. This has advantages such as reducing community time and alleviating pressure on the transport network, but homeworking doesn’t work for everyone. If it is to become the norm then greater (and cheaper) access to co-working 6

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space is likely to be needed to alleviate the pressure on private domestic space and make sure that a disadvantage at home, like overcrowding, doesn’t translate into a direct disadvantage in the workplace. This distribution of office activity across the city could have real benefits for the vitality of local neighbourhoods and perhaps homeworking will eventually become neighbourhood-working. It has often been said that the pandemic will not so much create change as accelerate the direction of travel. Many of the changes that we will see post-pandemic were probably happening anyway. However, being forced to live more locally over the last year has reminded us that community is one of the most fundamental benefits of city living. There was already a change happening in society in which people were increasingly living in different ways, sharing more with their neighbours and placing more importance on human interactions. Building on this through new forms of coexistence and better ways of sharing urban assets will deliver a better and more equitable city. American economist Edward Glaeser says that, “because the essential characteristic of humanity is our ability to learn from each other, cities make us more human.” People and community are central to creating vital cities, and the continued success of London will depend on building densely whilst maintaining the quality of human experience for both existing and new residents. Rather than being seen as a compromise, sharing should be seen as something that can foster community to create vital neighbourhoods, and enhance quality of life by enabling people to live more locally, spend less time commuting, know their neighbours better and have better access to nature. Sharing gives people a sense of agency and ownership of the city. Such a sense of ownership leads to cherished places, which are the key to creating vital neighbourhoods and bringing resilience and longevity to 21st century London. Kyle Buchanan is a director at Archio, an architecture company founded in 2011. He has a particular interest working with communities and is currently a member of the Tower Hamlets Self Build Association, established to liaise with the local authority over the release of public land for self-build housing. Archio are curating this year’s London Society ‘changing ways of living’ events stream. archio.co.uk 7

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The Illuminated River project shines a light on the capital’s riverside evolution writes Sarah Gaventa

The artist takes inspiration from the natural and social activity of the Thames; boats and barges moving people and cargo, the traffic surrounding the bridges, and the ebb and flow of the tides. Translating this atmosphere using custom created software, Villareal’s patterns are organic and everevolving, never repeating or resolving into a single image. Once the nine bridges are all complete, the artwork will be 3.2 miles in length, making it the longest public art project in the world, seen more than 90 million times in a normal year

Change has always been at the heart of the Illuminated River project, which is transforming our perceptions of the Thames and, more importantly, the bridges that cross it in central London. Illuminated River is a long-term free art installation, supported by the Mayor of London, which transforms the capital at night with an orchestrated series of light works that currently includes nine bridges. In spring 2021, the original four bridges were joined by another five in the political and cultural centre of London, from London Bridge to Lambeth Bridge. The project’s subtly moving sequences of LED light symbolically unify London’s Thames bridges, drawing inspiration from the spirit of the river and from the architectural and engineering heritage of its bridges.

Led by the Illuminated River Foundation, the project involves a unique and longlasting collaboration of statutory bodies, local authorities and communities. The artwork is the result of one of the most detailed and extensive pan-London planning processes the capital has ever seen, involving five different bridge owners and spanning seven boroughs and two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster. It has been developed in consultation and collaboration with over 50 organisations on and around the river, and seven local authorities from whom 30 planning permissions and 18 listed building consents have been granted. Unlike HS2 or Tideway, this was achieved without the benefit of an Act of Parliament!

The artwork is created by internationally renowned New York-based artist Leo Villareal, working with London-based project architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. It draws attention to the bridges across the Thames and brings to life aspects of the city after dark. Programming his artwork on site like a plein air painter, Villareal’s light compositions mimic the ever-changing movement of the river, using shifting hues drawn from the London sky at sunset and by moonlight. 8

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Westminster Bridge River artwork for Westminster Bridge © Leo Villareal Studio I SIlluminated S U E N O. 4 7 5

We hope the project will enrich the experience of travelling along and across the river at night and encourage Londoners and visitors to use the river - currently the city’s most under-used artery - as a means of transport, as commuting tends to decrease dramatically after dark. We were very surprised by research that showed how many children in London have never been on, or even seen the Thames. In Westminster alone, one child in ten has never seen it and low-income families do not visit it. This is partly because, though the Thames is London’s biggest public space by far, it cannot be accessed for free. To address this, we set up the cheapest boat tours possible, which are the same price as commuting, and offered free ones for local communities, which may only be a few streets back from the Thames but no longer feel connected to it.

and around the river and identify where light spill, glare and pollution is occurring. During the research process, we found that Albert Bridge throws out as much light as a motorway! It turns out most of the light spill is from surrounding buildings which are often lit way over the recommended levels, and we have been approaching owners who have been shocked by our findings. The view we have of London at night, particularly around the Thames, is directed by facilities managers (commercial buildings tend to be the most brightly lit), rather than a curated approach which respects the historic environment. This is something we would like to see change and we have instigated a project with Centre for London about how we can all share best practice to create a more holistic and sustainable approach. Thanks to Google Arts & Culture 360, the artwork can be viewed remotely (the first night-time project to be included), offering an immersive experience of the artwork and encouraging millions of virtual visitors to stroll the banks of the river Thames and learn about its history and heritage. We have also commissioned original musical scores inspired by the first four Illuminated River bridges from students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and more are planned for the following five bridges.

Community engagement has played a vital role in the development of the project. We gathered feedback from commuters, river and bridge users and visitors, and conducted numerous one-to-one meetings with a variety of stakeholders including heritage and ecology groups, local resident associations and civic societies. We also did research on luminance levels, creating the first ever luminance survey of the Thames, to assess current levels of brightness on 9

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London Bridge Illuminated River: London Bridge © James Newton

spaces that support our mental health and well-being. The outside has become the new inside, the streets our new restaurants, public realm our new art galleries, so we are pleased that Illuminated River, with its soothing and gently kinetic artwork, has provided some comfort to people during these testing times. If we can create something that is enjoyed and remains in place for a decade or more, something that changes people’s perceptions of the bridges, encourages them to notice the changing tide and flow of the Thames, to pause and look around at what has become so familiar that it is often ignored, then we will know that the challenge of creating this project will have been well worth it.

These pieces can be downloaded for free along with audio guides, including one specially created for people with sight loss. The project has spawned dedicated rambling, night kayaking, mud larking, sketching, photography and other activities which we hope will increase post Covid-19. Installing the Illuminated River project was already challenging and the pandemic added to the frisson. The Thames is a busy working river, a wildlife superhighway that must be respected. It has complex health and safety issues and our work had to be programmed around Tideway’s activities. We had to take into account the management of river and road traffic. Not only that, but we were also dealing with a rail bridge on which disrupted services could be expensive and chaotic. Though Covid-19 has added more challenges to the installation, including delays to manufacture of kit, capacity issues due to furlough amongst key partners and managing socially distanced sites, we were well prepared and remain on schedule to complete on time.

Tour guide in action

The pandemic has shown that we need good public spaces even more than ever, pleasant places to walk in and around and

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Cannon Street Bridge, © James Newton

Waterloo Bridge Illuminated River artwork for Waterloo Bridge © Leo Villareal Studio

Sarah Gaventa is director of The Illuminated River Foundation An Hon Fellow of both RIBA and the Landscape Institute, she is a public space and public art expert and curator, and was previously Director of CABE Space at the Commission for Architecture and Built Environment. She was Chair of the Elephant and Castle Regeneration Forum for five years. illuminatedriver.london/ 11

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Faced with a fall in congregation numbers, an East London Diocese took a radical change of direction by commissioning a waterbound place of worship

The Church of England had a problem. Part of its charter is to have a presence in every diocese, but in certain parts of East London it was finding it a challenge to reach potential parishioners who don’t want to walk more than two miles to find a church. The solution? Commissioning Genesis, a wide-beam narrowboat moored on the River Lee Navigation alongside Here East at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to develop better links with the community living around the canal. It serves as a space for worship and is also available for private hire and for use by local schools. Architects Denizen Works developed the design in close collaboration with Turks Shipyard and naval architect Tony Tucker. “It’s a modern day mission” explains Murray Kerr, founder of Denizen Works. “As a mixed-use faith and community project we feel the boat could be a first step in changing our thinking about how communities can continue to be served as they grow and move away from traditional locations and building types. Most of all, the project demonstrates what can be achieved when a brave client with an exciting brief believes in an ambitious design team.”

All images - Gilbert McCarragher

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The barge is designed with a bespoke and adaptable interior to accommodate a wide range of community activities and services, including parent and toddler groups, Pilates and art classes, interfaith celebrations, lunch and supper clubs, live music, employment training, support workshops and counselling. One of the standout architectural features is the kinetic roof, which is inspired by organ bellows. It has been crafted from concertinaed, translucent sailcloth and is lined with LED lights and powered by hydraulic rams. When fully raised Kerr says, “It’s a really welcoming space and provides a talking point for people to come aboard and have a chat.” The assembly space under the kinetic roof is designed to take a capacity of 40 people seated and up to 60 passengers when stationary. This project completely changes the idea of what a place of worship can and should be and the plan is for Genesis to remain where it is for three to five years before moving on to reach other communities.

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Genesis Floating Church images by Gilbert McCarragher

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Murray Kerr founded Denizen Works in 2011 to explore projects of diverse scales and typologies. The projects the studio has worked on are across the UK and beyond and are all joined in an approach which taps into local history, landscape, microclimate and community. denizenworks.com 17

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SOUND OF THE SUBURBS Jonathan Manns gives the lowdown on the research into London’s suburbs

The cross-party ‘Suburban Taskforce’ was established in March 2020, with support from the Government. It is believed to be the first parliamentary Taskforce to focus exclusively on suburban areas. Its purpose is to shine a light on the suburbs in order to identify and secure the clear, long-term and properly resourced policies needed to support thriving, sustainable and inclusive suburban areas. In doing so, it will pay attention to both current circumstances (social, economic and environmental) and policy tools available (taxation, investment and the planning system). The work of the Taskforce is founded upon original quantitative and qualitative research, coordinated by UCL as Knowledge Partner, supported by an expert Advisory Board and informed by a public consultation which ran from August-October 2020. This article sets out and summarises the themes which are beginning to emerge from these workstreams. There has been strong support for the Taskforce from built environment professionals, academics, civil society and the general public.

pandemic. UCL have been supported in the gathering and review of quantitative evidence by researchers at Estates Gazette who have provided comprehensive market information and access to critical thirdparty data. Proprietary data support has also been provided by Colliers International, Savills and Knight Frank. The public “Call for Evidence” has elicited approximately 50 responses from both organisations and individuals, with members of the public continuing to engage with the Secretariat following the call’s formal close. The work undertaken during 2020 focussed on both reviewing existing research and gathering new evidence. The purpose was to build a shared assessment of priorities in order to inform consideration of the key issues during 2021. This has helped to scope perceptions of the challenges and opportunities faced. Initial data analysis suggests that suburban areas are distinct from urban locations, but also cautions against a one-size-fitsall approach. A key workstream has been to collate and review descriptive statistics such as those related to land use, built form, population, transport and infrastructure. Focussing on London, where the pressures of growth are most apparent, this has had

Media coverage and responses to the “Call for Evidence” have emphasised not only the importance of the Taskforce’s work, but also its increased relevance in light of the potential impacts of the Covid-19 18

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against a sliding scale in terms of their attributes. This could offer possibilities both for benchmarking and to inform policy-making decisions.

regard to both regional information and ward-level data for ‘case study’ suburban areas (for which we have assessed the Outer London Boroughs of Sutton and Waltham Forest). This analysis confirms that there are clear differences between Inner and Outer Boroughs.

The type of attributes which could be considered include local services and infrastructure and this is deserving of further investigation. Central areas see a higher concentration of pubs per capita than suburban ones, whilst the latter have a substantially higher proportion of surgeries and schools, which is perhaps a logical reflection of their function. However, despite the clear distinction between Inner and Outer Boroughs, it remains important to note that the provision of social infrastructure is also uneven within suburban areas and appears correlated to more urban characteristics.

The evidence makes clear that suburban areas are significantly more residential in character than inner-city locations. Conversely, Inner Boroughs contain almost five times as much office floorspace as Outer Boroughs. This is testament to the different functional nature of each area. It is also reflected in the urban grain and form, with a far higher proportion of flatted residential accommodation in Inner Boroughs than Outer Boroughs. However, there is also variation within suburban areas, indicating that there may be more than one suburban ‘character’. Certain wards and local centres may, for example, display characteristics which are far more ‘urban’ than ‘suburban’ as a result of their scale, connectivity or the amount of retail and commercial floorspace they accommodate. It may be that it is therefore possible to think of suburban characteristics

The Call for Evidence reveals concerns about the impact of growth upon the nature of development and the quality and cohesiveness of existing communities. Key to understanding the quantitative data has been the public response to the Call for Evidence. The feedback has highlighted the continued relevance of long-established ‘suburban debates’ about the character of 19

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for ‘gentle’ and sensitively located areas of densification.

suburbs, their relationship to urban centres and management of growth pressures, in addition to the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite general support for the intensification of suburban areas, the feedback sets out clear concerns about the way in which the pressures of growth are managed. This includes, in particular, doubts about the impact that new development has on the wellbeing of existing communities, not least in terms of the additional pressure which it creates on the availability and quality of social infrastructure and green space.

Aligning with the quantitative data, respondents suggested that there were discernible suburban characteristics in terms of both vernacular (i.e. architecture and design), processes (i.e. traffic congestion, refuse storage, service provision, etc) and experience (affect, agency, etc). They also identified the diverse and unequal nature of experience, with many respondents citing concerns about the housing market and problems of affordability, not least as this affects the young and less well resourced.

The strongest opinions to be expressed were concerns about density and intensification, as well as the impact of growth on local infrastructure (i.e. social, community, transport). There were also concerns that the lower values associated with suburban areas resulted in reduced design quality. On balance, feedback was generally conservation-oriented and antigentrification in tone. There was support

There was a recognition that the Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to result in structural social and economic changes which could influence the nature of suburban areas. This raises important considerations about the potential for greater polycentricity, which in turn raises questions about wider travel patterns and the need for greater connectivity between suburban centres. There was an 20

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Key to understanding the quantitative data has been the public Call for Evidence. The feedback has highlighted the continued relevance of long-established ‘suburban debates’ about the character of suburbs, their relationship to urban centres and management of growth pressures, in addition to the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

acknowledgement that the function of existing transport infrastructure follows the historic form of development but support for sustainable modes of travel to be prioritised including walking and cycling. The initial quantitative and qualitative research undertaken indicates several areas which require further analysis and in-depth consideration by the Taskforce. These are:

It is also possible to identify key questions which would benefit from particular attention. These are:

1. The drivers of key trends 2. The nature of live-work patterns 3. The role of centres 4. The provision of services and transport 5. The nature of land use and incremental change 6. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and 7. The relationship of suburban change to the ‘levelling up’ agenda.

- How to respond to pressures of growth and decline in such a way as to ensure that change does not erode the quality of place or sense of community? - How can we ensure that full account is taken of the diversity of lived experiences?

Jonathan Manns is executive director of Rockwell Property and associate professor at UCL. He specialises in the use and development of property, from design to delivery.

HTA Design LLP

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Deptford is unusually rich in Second World War air raid shelter signs. The most prominent is on the wall of St Paul’s House, part of developer U+I’s Market Yard scheme. It gained national attention after being inadvertently repainted by overzealous workmen in 2018. 22

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Lockdown has given architectural photojournalist Gareth Gardner the opportunity to explore his local neighbourhood with a camera. Deptford’s rich history is there for all to see, thanks in no small part to its painted walls. With a multitude of architectural styles rubbing up against each other, it’s always stimulating to walk Deptford’s streets. Within moments a pedestrian might encounter the gothic medieval tower of St Nicholas Church (where murdered dramatist Christopher Marlowe was buried in 1593) and the shimmering 2003 Stirling Prize-winning Laban dance centre. The south-east London neighbourhood boasts landmarks of brutalism and baroque, yet remains unappreciated compared to its loftier neighbours Greenwich and Blackheath. It’s not just the buildings themselves that help to tell the story of Deptford, but the pigments that have been applied to their walls. From faded ghost signs to modern murals, the area’s rich history is told through layers of paint. Pounding the pavements is an education in Deptford’s maritime past and multicultural present. The painted walls provide a sense of place to an area undergoing rapid change.

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The painted shutters of the Anchor Barber Shop depict a historic anchor which was installed at the southern end of the High Street in 1988. It became the area’s most visible landmark before being controversially removed during redevelopment works in 2013. After five years of petitions and protests, the anchor was finally reinstated in 2018.

In 2018, Spanish graffiti artist Daniel Fernàndez (known as Tutti) completed this artwork on the shutters of the Commando Temple gym. It depicts Copita de Nieve (Snowflake), a famous albino gorilla kept at Barcelona Zoo.

Created by Gary Drostle in 1989, Love Over Gold celebrates local band Dire Straits, who played their first gig in the adjacent Crossfield Estate. The mural was painted onto the front of a building now occupied by crafts business incubator Cockpit Arts.

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Largely built in the late 1930s, the long-neglected Crossfield Estate - where these plant murals adorn the walls of Congers House – was given a new lease of life in the 1970s when it was used to house single professional people, largely drawn from the creative and education sectors. This helped to inspire Deptford’s creative renaissance as a hotspot for radical music and art. 25

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This mural extends around three sides of the Riverside Youth Club. The building’s distinctive roof forms, inspired by oast houses, appear in the background of one of Tony Ray-Jones’s iconic images of the brutalist Pepys Estate, commissioned by the Architectural Review in 1970.

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Now partly damaged, this enormous reproduction of 18th century oil painting The Royal George at Deptford, by painter John Cleverley the Elder, was installed on the scruffy back walls of shops in 2009 as part of Lewisham Council’s Frankham Street regeneration project. It’s a reminder of Deptford’s past as a major centre for maritime activity and home of the Royal Dockyard.

Another ghost air raid shelter sign is found on Frankham Street, pointing towards a public surface shelter that has long since disappeared.

Located on Alpha Road, just off the A2 as it cuts through Deptford, this huge ghost sign for Bryant and May safety matches remains in surprisingly good condition.

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Deptford’s most famous painted wall is the His’n’Hers Mural, overlooking Giffin Square. Created in 2002 and restored in 2013, the mural is the work of Argentine artist Patricio Forrester, of prolific south London public art organisation Artmongers.

Running alongside the railway line, a footpath leading to the Ha’penny Hatch footbridge across Deptford Creek is enlivened by an everchanging display of vibrant graffiti artworks adorning the in-filled arches.

The much-faded remains of an air raid shelter sign on a bridge crossing the railway at Tanner’s Hill.

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Neighbouring buildings on the High Street have been given paint jobs by public art organisation Artmongers. Such distinctive designs might not be to everyone’s taste but help to create a sense of place for an area undergoing rapid regeneration. The first to be given a makeover was “bent tin” shop El Cheap ‘Ou, which was painted for the 2013 edition of local annual art festival Deptford X.

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The Pink Palace Mural dates from 1983 and can be found upon the end wall of Frankham House, decorating the entrance to the Crossfield Tenants and Residents Association community space. Artists from the South London Murals Group worked with local residents on the trompe l’oeil design.

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A giant ghost sign, for Lipton’s Tea, can be found on Mornington Road. The surviving section was hidden under a billboard for many years.

Another Artmongers creation, The Deptford Arena on New Cross Road celebrates a street corner infamous for drunken, unruly behaviour. The remains of an earlier mural can be seen above. 32

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Remains of a Second World War air raid shelter sign on the corner of a former pub on Comet Street. Nearby is the 2019 Comet Street Mural depicting multiculturalism through the boxes of produce from around the world which are sold at Deptford Market.

A detail from the Riverside Youth Club.

Gareth Gardner Gallery, dedicated to exhibiting photography of architecture and the man-altered landscape, is located in Deptford. More information at garethgardner.com 33

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A REBIRTH FOR ST PAUL’S The cathedral that symbolised a new dawn for architecture when it was rebuilt in the 1700s provides the starting point for a suggestion for public realm in the surrounding area. Designer Yorgo Lykouria shares his concept sermon in 1964 en route to collecting the Nobel Peace Prize, and the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981

In London, we might revere St Paul’s cathedral as a symbol of upstanding traditionalism, yet its completion in 1710 was a radical act. The design epitomised the English Reformation when Henry VIII’s rule audaciously broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, birthing a new English Baroque language and a departure from the European cathedral form. A special levy on coal funded the cost (equivalent to £150 million today) for this talismanic structure, which is intrinsic to the fabric of London and belongs to all Londoners.

The cathedral stood as the tallest building in London for over 250 years. It remains in the consciousness of architects, developers and planners, as it continues to exert its presence with the protected views policy in place since 1937. These planning controls protect and enhance local views of the cathedral from the South Bank, the bridges of the Thames, along Fleet Street and certain points north, east and west. You must dance around it whenever you build a tall building. Richard Roger’s Leadenhall Building, the Cheesegrater, nonchalantly leans away so as not to obstruct the viewing corridor. Fair enough, it makes for a better building.

St Paul’s has its origins as a small AngloSaxon church in the early 7th century and later versions are known to have been destroyed by fire in 962 and 1087 before the Normans erected their Romanesque cathedral on the site, itself to be destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Sir Christopher Wren designed the edifice we know, his travels to France and his knowledge of Italian Renaissance architecture, manifest in the inimitable geometry of the dome, informed his design; an intersection of poetry and mathematics.

Yet astonishingly, when you look at St Paul’s from the river, you only have that one axis, from Foster + Partners Millennium Bridge, where you can properly see it. It is the beginning of a superb urban moment, the cascading promenade that leads from the cathedral down to the river and across it to Tate Modern. Beyond this narrow blink-andyou-miss-it corridor, the clutter of buildings along the waterfront mostly obscure this monument.

Since then St Paul’s has played host to significant moments in London’s sociopolitical history from the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill, to Martin Luther King’s 34

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Credit - Nigel Young/Foster + Partners

If we value St Paul’s Cathedral so much, then we have not gone far enough. The siting of this monument so close to the waterfront is an extraordinary opportunity. I envision a broader connection fanning out from the cathedral to the Thames, a space that celebrates life in London and re-establishes its centre. This would be an opportunity to create a fascinating urban topography; terraced gardens with beautifully designed pavilions for performances, for food and beverages, for temporary exhibitions, and shelters to watch the rain, all embedded into the cultural fabric of London. What we might have learned from the pandemic is how much we appreciate outdoor living.

They used it for meetings, as courts of law and for mercantile activity. In these early iterations there were no pews, a cathedral nave remained open to serve as markets, containing everything from livestock to vegetables that would appear on a Saturday and be swept away in time for Sunday morning. St Paul’s Cathedral is a reminder of what creative passion and sacrifice can achieve. It is the people’s crown jewel in the centre of this great city and deserves more celebration. Yorgo Lykouria is a creative director and founder of Rainlight, an integrated design studio, operating between offices in London and New York. Rainlight combines inspired design thinking with business acumen to create products that enhance how people live, work, and play in the real world. rainlightstudio.com

The concept of the cathedral is cultural, commercial, and spiritual. The association goes back a long way to the origins in the Romanesque basilica, and the subsequent cathedral which formed the city centre.

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Londoners must be empowered to determine the city’s impact on their health says PLP Architecture’s Hala El Akl

Evidence is growing fast of a link between the quality of Londoners’ living and working environments and their levels of health vulnerability. Covid-19 is revealing the link increasingly, as those living in cramped housing suffer worst from the pandemic. Meanwhile, it has been established that air pollution contributed to the death of a nine year old girl living in Lewisham. In December a Coroner’s Court found that air pollution ‘made a material contribution’ to the tragic death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who had asthma and lived near a busy road.

questions such as, is my home fit for purpose, is it more vulnerable, is my workplace safe and is public transport safe? Questions of good density versus bad density have also found their way back into the public discussion. This is compounded by a growing body of research showing some areas have clearly been more vulnerable than others, and there are direct correlations between built form and health, between built form and air quality, and between built form and wellbeing. Taking pollution as an example, while the existence of a degree of physical impact might surprise few, the extent is shocking. A 2018 report led by King’s College London estimated that between 28,000 and 36,000 people will die in the UK as a result of toxic air pollution every year. Mental health impacts of poor quality environments have also been identified. Neuroscience researchers Centric Lab have found that stress responses are triggered by high levels of air and noise pollution. If the stress response is engaged continuously, the body begins to experience chronic stress and is unable to regulate itself. This increases the chances of illnesses such as depression, anxiety, obesity and diabetes.

Londoners deserve to understand how the built environment affects their health – and be empowered to effect urgentlyneeded change. The first step in making London a healthier place to live is to raise awareness of the causal link between its built environment and its citizens’ physical and mental wellbeing. There is compelling historic evidence for a start. Consider the global cholera pandemic of 1846–1860. In Soho, an investigation by physician Dr John Snow identified that the lack of sanitary services was allowing the disease to spread. This led to improved internal plumbing and wider streets in London. Today, partly because of Covid, London’s citizens, from front line workers and office occupiers to renters and homeowners, are becoming increasingly aware of the quality of their immediate environment and its direct impact on their livelihoods. Lockdowns have made each of us ask

To tackle these challenges we’ll need a multi-pronged approach, with urban designers and architects working alongside policy-makers, scientists and public health experts. But crucially, our best chance of far-reaching change is a movement that 36

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OPINION

comes from the grassroots. For this reason, PLP Labs at PLP Architecture has teamed up with Centric Lab and design studio Comuzi to create a ‘toolkit’ for citizens to understand how, and where, they live is affecting their health and how to effect change to combat this.

systems, access to green open space and levels of clustering. At a more granular level, built environment professionals could use a better understanding of the link between health and home to review residential models in view of the increased time we are spending at home. Health data can inform the design of the office environment too, supporting the safety of workers and their mental wellbeing.

The toolkit assists citizens to understand seven key areas: housing, biodiversity, mobility, nourishment, social spaces, governance and infrastructure. It offers practical steps to go about improving each area, whether that be changing your own behaviour, forming local groups or petitioning local authorities. The roles of city leaders and policymakers, as well as the real estate and design industries are clearly essential, and our joint project also aims to gather comprehensive data on the health of urban populations and how they are impacted by built environment factors.

Our research, data and toolkit on their own will not be enough to completely reverse the tide for London, nor will it prevent further tragic losses of life. But we hope these elements can help to raise awareness of the issues and be the starting point for reform. From here, a dialogue needs to develop between occupiers, end users, local authorities, developers, planners, architects and urban designers. These conversations, in turn, must inform development projects, for which impacts must be monitored with the data fed back into the conversation between an empowered citizen base of Londoners and an engaged built environment sector.

This study, we hope, will inform London’s future urban design and planning, including the types of amenities we programme, the proximity between the services, mobility

Hala El Akl is an architect, urban designer and planner. A director with PLP Architecture, she is interested in both the physical characteristics of a place and how planning, urban design, urban infrastructure and architecture can transform the urban experience and reshape contemporary culture. plparchitecture.com 39

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Richard Upton, chief executive of U+I, argues that while London’s centre will survive, it is the city’s outer reaches that will provide much opportunity too At U+I, for example, we’re looking for a new home. Something smaller that is designed to cultivate collaborative working rather than the usual rows of desks, a space that goes above and beyond usual office expectations. Remote working – at home or in shared workspace locations – will be for focused work and the office for the buzz of collaboration, creativity and innovation.

Walking the streets of central London during the last weeks and months has been a strange experience. Places so familiar, devoid of their bustle; the crowds gone; shops and restaurants closed. In Victoria, where U+I is based, we have seen and felt the impact of the pandemic on central London and at times it’s been hard to comprehend. It is all too easy to get sucked into a vortex of doom and gloom, but we must remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of vaccines and the second half of 2021 looks brighter as a result.

Importantly, we will still have an office in central London – we are just rethinking how we will use it. We think this will be the case for most businesses: demand for offices in central locations will remain, but occupiers will look at using the space differently, with a premium placed on well-designed workspace with great public realm, parks and amenities, as well as high levels of sustainability, wellbeing and connectivity.

So let’s focus on that future and ask what the opportunities are for London as a result of the pandemic. How will the shape of our city change? Certainly, enormous damage has been wrought on urban centres across the country – and in London these are some of the UK’s most famous and wellloved retail and leisure destinations. It isn’t only the impact of the lockdowns that has caused damage, but also the ongoing absence in between of the critical mass of office workers that is the lifeblood of many central London businesses.

Where we expect to see more wide-ranging change is in the outer London locations that have been a little less feted in the past. In 2020, it was already clear that for all the talk of retail dying and high streets on their last legs, suburban and fringe locations in London were faring far better than places in the centre. In many of these locations, places like Bromley and Hayes where we have largescale regeneration schemes, footfall rebounded quickly after the first lockdown, as all those commuters now working from home rediscovered their local area.

Even so, I have no doubt central London will recover, the ‘death of the office’ narrative that drives a lot of the doommongering around the future of our great city has been overdone. The ‘future of work’ is not this urgent and necessary experiment in remote working that we have been living through. It is something smarter, hybrid and more agile that will keep an office at its heart.

We expect this again to be the case again in 2021 as restrictions lift and more flexible and hybrid working arrangements endure. The ‘shop local’ mantra that has helped many smaller businesses through the 40

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Simon Ellis

What we find is that successful places need to have a sense of identity or character – that kind of magic alchemy that just makes a place ‘right’; a place where people want to live, work, visit, and spend their time (and money). And part of that alchemy is having a unique and interesting leisure, hospitality and retail offer. We have seen the same thing happen in Bromley: a virtuous circle is sparked that can kickstart the revival of a High Street, a neighbourhood or a whole town centre.

pandemic is a great positive, which we think will help places to recover. Ultimately, we still believe in the local high street as the lifeblood of a community: we just need to rethink what it is for. That means thinking less about the creation of retail destinations, more the curation of places for people to gather. Shops, yes, but smaller, more local, more interesting, more experiential, sitting alongside hospitality, leisure, workspace and homes, as well as much-improved public realm. The future of London as a city post-pandemic must be seen through this prism of creating more genuinely mixed-use places.

Getting it right is not easy. But we believe it is the only way you can deliver genuine regeneration that has a tangible and sustainable impact on local economies, while also being commercially successful. And that is what London will need to recover: imagination, hard work and close working between the private sector and local authorities, to help our city emerge from the grip of this pandemic. A city revived, with a strong vibrant centre, but equally vigorous satellites; a more balanced, hybrid, and sustainable city, fit for its global future.

But to do that you do need to be bold and creative. In Hayes, we’re creating a whole new neighbourhood based on these principles, called The Old Vinyl Factory – a seven hectare regeneration site that is now close to completion. Here we have poured our energies into curating a retail and leisure offer that has a balanced mix – some national operators but also smaller, independent businesses. These sit alongside homes, workspace and a hugely successful innovation hub, as well as community facilities, education providers and carefully considered public realm.

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Richard Upton is chief executive with U+I, a property developer and investor focused on regeneration. Richard is driven by a desire to build a company that inspires people to deliver great places that are authentic, inclusive and exceptional. uandiplc.com 43

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DEBUNKING DENSITY AND DISEASE Urban density is not to blame for the pandemic’s spread and we should weaponise it to fight future contagion argues Earle Arney, Founder & Chief Executive of Arney Fender Katsalides urban density. It found that the commonly associated connection was unfounded and he argued that higher densities can even be a blessing rather than a curse in fighting epidemics. Due to economies of scale, cities often need to meet a certain threshold of population density to offer higher-grade facilities and services to their residents in order to help protect against the transmission of disease. Similarly, data for New York City illustrated that in some urban areas, Covid-19 cases were disproportionate to urban density. Specifically Manhattan, the most populous borough of New York City, had fewer cases of Covid-19 compared to the less densely populated outer suburban boroughs of Queens and Staten Island.

London’s population density is often cited as a critical point of vulnerability during the pandemic, and a catalyst in the rising ‘R’ (Covid reproduction) number. But I think density is widely misunderstood and often a ‘catch-all’ for a much broader range of urban problems. A high density does not make the capital predestined to become the epicentre of an epidemic. Instead, the data suggests that well-planned density can improve cities’ ability to cope with epidemics through economies of scale, and access to the higher-grade amenities and green spaces that a critical mass of citizens demands. You only need look to Dickensian London to understand why density is unfairly linked to poor health. The Industrial Revolution caused London’s population to explode from 1 million in 1800, to 4.5 million by 1880 making the capital the largest and richest city in the world. However, the social consequences were terrible, with overcrowding, squalor, poor sanitation and constant outbreaks of cholera and other diseases. Through reform and much-needed improvements in infrastructure, sanitation, healthcare and education, the worst aspects of Victorian life were banished, but London’s population density remained high.

So if density isn’t to blame, what makes one city more vulnerable than the next? It’s simple – poverty. London, to its great shame, still has shocking rates of urban poverty throughout its boroughs – higher than any other region in the UK according to London’s Poverty Profile. The pandemic’s disproportionate effect on the urban poor is also linked to housing quality, where higher death rates from Covid-19 were found in areas where the housing need is the most acute and overcrowding rife. Housing and health must go hand in hand for our cities to prosper. Poor quality housing and vulnerability to infectious diseases is not solely a question of density done poorly, but how we make our cities an equitable place for all. We should channel what we have learnt during the pandemic to

Urban density does not have to equate to epidemic vulnerability. In fact, the opposite is possible. At the World Bank a team led by Dr Sameh Wahba investigated 284 Chinese cities to examine whether there was a link between Covid-19 and 44

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OPINION Mill Hill, a high density development and WELL community of 844 homes, at 244 dwellings per hectare, on a 3.14 hectare site designed by Arney Fender Katsalidis

occupants. This would be particularly achievable in build-to-rent as a fresh and evolving typology. Most adaptations of this type can be achieved with minimal uplift in floor area and with no increase in the extent of external walling.

drive reform and make London as healthy and green as it can be. Firstly, we must tackle the housing issue. Affordable housing targets should not be lowered as some argue. Rather, we should just get on and deliver much-needed homes - at a good level of density and at an increased rate. We need to ‘press reset’ as the current approach is broken. To drive that reset, Special Development Authorities should be established, much like the Olympic Delivery Authority employed to deliver mass housing within a compressed time period – something we have otherwise been incapable of since the post-war period. These new Special Development Authorities should be empowered as consent bodies to deliver homes across GLA-defined Brownfield Sites, Opportunity Areas and Housing Zones. Density will help balance the development economics and offset the provision of well-designed, affordable homes.

Finally, new green spaces must be created for London and the quality and accessibility of existing green areas, including the greenbelt, elevated. What better legacy of the pandemic than a healthy green revival of London? I envisage a new, improved density that allows our city a more concentrated mix of culture and creativity, all with intrinsic epidemic resilience facilitated by good design.

Earle Arney is Founder & Chief Executive of Arney Fender Katsalides. He holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University and is an architect, urbanist, and an office and tall building specialist. His practice works internationally from their London and Toronto studios. afkstudios.com

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Ben Masterson-Smith, director of Transit Studio talks through ‘Social Soho’ a project which saw this special part of central London welcome more diners outside in 2020 Social Soho was a concept created by us, Transit Studio. We’re an architecture practice based on Frith Street in the heart of the ‘village’. The idea was to try and help local businesses deal with social distancing once they were allowed to reopen last summer. Initially we approached individual operators and this led to some of the bigger landlords, such as Shaftesbury and Soho Estates, getting on board. They were already developing their own ideas but welcomed a holistic approach.

local scene, taking into consideration that the area was experiencing some of the lowest levels of traffic in living memory. Knowing that the summer months were approaching, and inspired by the British tradition of street parties, we examined the density of restaurants in Soho and looked at ways that traffic could be pushed to the periphery to free the streets up for tables and chairs rather than cars. A masterplan was developed, providing two metre spacing between tables, allowing for pedestrians to flow through the streets, and making use of car parking/loading bays which could accommodate roughly 10 restaurant covers.

Transit has extensive experience of working in the hospitality industry, including a recent project for the Groucho Club, so the practice was very aware of the challenges facing operators as they tried to adhere to the rules around social distancing, particularly in the small sites that make Soho so special.

The concept for Social Soho was pitched to local businesses who supported it wholeheartedly. This was then taken to Westminster City Council who took up a version of the scheme that has seen 90% of Soho restaurants reopen. This project has been welcomed by many and some are even calling for it to become a permanent fixture. Soho was made for walking and its future may depend on the quality of its outside spaces.

Restaurants had been forced to close in the wake of the pandemic. Without clear guidance on how to reopen them safely, the creative team at Transit Studio started developing ideas for supporting the lively

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Ben Masterson-Smith from Transit Studio has worked on a wide variety of restaurant, bar and hotel and residential projects, both in London and internationally. He has worked from inception to completion on a diverse mix of complex and challenging projects achieving striking and innovative designs on time and on budget. transitstudio.co.uk 49

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Journalist and photographer Anita Chaudhuri talks through her Lockdown in the City photography series and what the future might hold for the Square Mile Anita Chaudhuri, a journalist who has lived in London for thirty years, began taking pictures of the City of London from mid-June to the end of September 2020. Calling it ‘Lockdown in the City’ It was, she says, partly in response to Boris Johnson’s assertion in June last year that the bustle can now return to the high street. The empty streets around Ludgate Hill certainly tell a different story.

Chaudhuri’s work is that she deliberately focussed on one particular London location: the Square Mile, particularly the area around St Paul’s cathedral. The project meant an early start, arriving in the area at 7:30am to capture the scenes. She has shared an office with over a dozen other journalists in a building off one of the narrow streets north of Blackfriars for eighteen months but her association with the area dates back further.

While documenting the months of the pandemic in pictures was something quite a few people decided to do, what marks out

“I have quite an emotional connection to this part of London, as my first job in

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journalism was with PR Week which once had the address 100 Fleet Street.” While newspaper businesses in much of this famous thoroughfare, once so synonymous with hacks filing copy and printing presses whirring, decamped to other parts of the capital such as Canary Wharf, other parts of Fleet Street remain impervious to the change in industries over the decades. The Punch Tavern and the Old Bell, the locations for many a midday pint when long liquid lunches were a rite of passage for Fleet Street, still stand. Chaudhuri reflects further back. “All the little streets and alleys always struck me as quite Dickensian, your visual map is from books that you read,” she says.

about how empty the City had become. The only people you saw were either wearing hard hats or belonged to takeaway delivery firms.” That emptiness she adds, brought out the hard lines and the textures of the architecture. On a human scale she says, “I also had a feeling of concern for all the businesses around there, given the amount of ‘To Let’ signs appearing. In terms of change are people going to be bailing out of the City as soon as their leases are up or is there going to be a renaissance? Are there going to be a lot of independent businesses taking over these empty spaces?” Looking towards a more positive outcome she adds, “Is there going to be a bounce back, maybe rents will become more affordable which will attract more creatives back?”

She chose black and white to really capture the area’s atmospheric quality, particularly prevalent during the summer months of last year’s restrictions. “What happened during lockdown was around this layer of sadness

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One thing that is concerning is quite how many people will come back, whether that’s major tenants in office buildings or foreign tourists. If commercial tenants do take flight for good, will that mean an influx of creatives to the City and could it, in fact become the next cool part of town?

creating a soulless, homogenised downtown, which has become the fate of many cities around the world. Chaudhuri moved to London thirty years ago and says that even after a decade in the capital “you start to see patterns repeat themselves, that things bounce back and that makes it easier to read the waves of change.”

In some ways she says, it could be argued that this is a welcome corrective for London to prevent it going down the path of

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Anita is associate editor of Psychologies magazine and is also currently studying for a masters in photography at the University of the Arts, London 57

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ALL CHANGE AT DOCKLANDS Glenn Howells takes us on a historical journey of London’s Docklands and his practice’s involvement in its future

Until the late 1960s the Docklands were a thriving and vital part of London’s economy, generating a raft of associated industries among the networks of wet and dry docks and yards, and employing thousands of the city’s workers. The development of Tilbury further downstream as a major deep-water container port in the mid 1960s, equipped to deal with larger vessels and containerisation, was the death knell for the area, and from 1960 to 1980 all of London’s docks were closed, leaving around eight square miles of derelict land. The 1980s heralded the regeneration of the Docklands, led by the DLR and most notably Canary Wharf, but this stopped short at the Isle of Dogs.

by working wharfs and warehouses, residential developments had been largely isolated, and gated. Such developments relied on being cheaper than those in established districts further west, the provision of secure parking, and maximising their only asset, the Thames. This led to what appeared to be Torremolinos on Thames; disconnected housing schemes, all straining their necks to give every home a glimpse of the water with little, if any, consideration of sites adjacent. The result of this is still evident; largely dormitory settlements that lack integration, connectivity and a sense of place. A great positive to come from 2008 was the pause brought about by that crisis, much like we are experiencing today, affording time and scope to reflect, and to think on things differently. Not only did architects and developers begin to look at things differently, but so did public agencies.

We first started working in London’s eastern Docklands in the depth of the banking crisis of 2008, when we were asked by developer Ballymore to look at a string of sites, stretching east from Leamouth Peninsula to either side of the Thames Barrier. Our brief was broad, to look at the potential in these sites, and see if development was viable, at a time when land values were in freefall and funding for property near impossible.

Just as we began to explore with Ballymore the idea of looking beyond these isolated commuter developments to an integrated urban tapestry - potentially a new great estate for London - we began conversations with local authorities, and in particular, Newham’s inspirational new head of regeneration, Clive Dutton. Together we began to imagine a connected

What became evident very quickly, was that up until this point, Thames-side developments east of Canary Wharf had been brave but opportunistic. Surrounded 58

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Ben Luxmoore

Ballymore, Newham and the GLA to think big and develop an open-ended plan that could, over time, be extended beyond the current land ownership in order to defy the recession and create the new homes so desperately needed in the capital. To date, over 4,000 homes have been delivered at Royal Wharf, ranging from starter homes to four-storey townhouses, alongside a school, workspace, a new Thames Clipper station and two fully integrated parks.

district, running from Barrier Park West to Canary Wharf; 5km of walkable, cyclable aspirational riverside developments. A district made up of communities that were proud of the area and invested in it. A district looking out onto the river, but with an inner life all of its own, something that is beginning to emerge today. The first site to undergo transformation within this tapestry was Royal Wharf; 17 hectares of contaminated land with over a kilometre of river frontage, at this point blocked to the east by Barrier Point and to the west by the Tate and Lyle works. On this project, we were given the backing of

The next part of the tapestry we were asked to look at was Leamouth Peninsula, now London City Island, an ambitious masterplan by SOM that had come to a

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halt with the financial crash. After a period of exploration with Ballymore, Tower Hamlets and creative placemakers, cultural strategists and landscape designers, an idea emerged. The idea was for a bold cultural development; replacing costly parking podiums with active creative workspace, drawing people to live, work, and learn on the Island, and creating a diverse range of activity throughout the day.

After almost 15 years of working here, we are very proud to have played a part in unlocking the potential of this part of London. In particular challenging the silo approach to sites that had led to disconnected dormitory projects, and helping to plant the idea for this wider tapestry that stitches this part of the riverside together, connecting existing, new and future communities.

A pivotal point for this project was attracting English National Ballet to the Island; an innovative partnership with Ballymore that has fulfilled the ambitions of the company’s English National Ballet School to create a world-class centre for dance, whilst creating a cultural anchor for the Island - one that has not only animated the Island but attracted other creative organisations, such as the London Film School, to locate there.

Importantly, it is clear that for this part of London to really succeed it needs to have more than excellent and affordable housing. It needs the workspace, education, parks and culture that will make it a place that people do not just pass through, but a destination where people come and settle for good.

Glenn Howells is the founding Partner of Glenn Howells Architects, a practice established in 1990. It has won national and international design competitions with its portfolio ranging from cultural buildings and housing to larger scale, urban mixed-use developments. glennhowells.co.uk 61

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Andrew Beharrell explores the idea of mansion blocks for the many

of grandeur’. One of the earliest examples is Richard Norman Shaw’s Albert Hall Mansions of 1879. Purpose-built flats for the wealthier classes were such a rarity in London that the architect travelled to Paris for inspiration. Elaborately articulated and decorated street frontages with grand entrances helped to distance the new typology from ‘model dwellings’ for the working classes, which charities such as Peabody started delivering in the 1860s.

The mansion block is back in fashion as an inspiration for today’s housing. Phrases like ‘modern mansion block’ and ‘new London vernacular’ aim to confer a comforting connection with London’s domestic built heritage, even when proposals are bafflingly remote from the Victorian and Edwardian originals. The precedent is better understood by the government-appointed Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. In Living with Beauty (2020), they promote the mansion block as part of the way to deliver ‘gentle density’ and roll back the tide of high-rise. We have previously calculated that the original inner London mansion blocks often achieved around 200 homes per hectare, which qualifies as ‘superdensity’ and is in the upper range of the GLA’s recently retired density matrix.

My definition of a mansion block might run something like this: mid-rise apartment block, typically four to eight storeys, with 2-8 flats per level, usually arranged around a compact stair core. Adjoining blocks are often grouped to create a continuous street frontage, each having a prominent front entrance. This definition distances the mansion block from other common contemporary typologies: corridor access, deck or gallery access and point block.

There is no commonly agreed technical definition of ‘mansion block’ or ‘mansion flat’. Estate agents like the status conferred by ‘mansion’ and Wikipedia follows suit with ‘apartments designed for the appearance

Here are some mansion block milestones, which also chart the changing character of London and show how the typology has evolved from exclusive to inclusive: 62

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Tower and York Houses Fitzrovia

Marsham Court Pimlico

Tower and York Houses were designed by Herbert Fuller-Clark in 1903 to “house respectable clerks of modest means”. The flats were self-contained, but tiny, with a sitting room at the front, bedroom, and small kitchen/pantry at the back. Overall size was 38 sq m (compared with today’s national minimum of 50 sq m): these were the micro-flats of their day, a century before Pocket Living.

Marsham Court, designed by T P Bennett & Son in 1937, and its many siblings in 1930s London, still just about meet my criteria for a ‘mansion block’, although the height stretches my definition of mid-rise. At around 61 sq m the flats were compact and closely pre-figured today’s national space standard. Today’s London Plan requires every flat to have a decent balcony, big enough for outdoor meals and lockdown cocktails. It was not always so: Marsham Court and the Edwardian flats in this story had decorative balconies which were not much use for anything except a few unhappy pot plants.

How can London’s mansion blocks provide a template for modern living? Mansion blocks also challenge some of the orthodoxies of London’s planning standards, which are tending to impose sameness across the capital. They may require trade-offs in daylight and sunlight to some rooms; they may not achieve dual aspect for every home; they may have reduced privacy distances at the rear. And yet, like London’s terraced housing stock, they are enduringly popular and in demand. We should learn from that. 64

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Woodside Square Muswell Hill

New Garden Quarter Stratford, E15

Every flat has views in two or three directions and a large balcony on to a garden square. What is really unusual is that affordable homes, for rent or shared ownership, are completely integrated with homes bought by wealthy downsizers. ‘Pepper-potting’ of different tenures is usually resisted by developers and social landlords alike, partly for practical reasons of management and service charges, but partly out of an atavistic fear of conflict between the classes. But here social inclusivity seems to work fine and I think it comes down to the intimacy of the mansion block, where everyone can know their neighbours and take ownership of the shared spaces.

If Woodside Square is a model for older people living in London’s suburbs, New Garden Quarter, next to Stratford and the former Olympic Village, is all about bringing families back to the city. 45% of the 470 apartments in this recently completed development are family flats with three bedrooms or more, and 35% of all the homes are affordable. They are arranged in seven-storey mansion blocks around a large new London square: from their private balcony parents can watch their children playing in the square below. The planning requirement to include larger homes, even in high density apartment developments is controversial. There is significantly more profit in one- and two-bedroom flats, which have been the preferred product of London’s developers for 20 years and more. This is not just greed: more profit means more affordable housing and higher contributions to infrastructure and other local benefits.

Andrew Beharrell is a senior advisor with architectural practice Pollard Thomas Edwards pollardthomasedwards.co.uk 65

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RYE OBSERVATIONS James (Owen) Webster reflects on his and Richard (Alexander) Bridges’ relationship with Peckham and East Dulwich

Alexander Owen Architecture + Interiors is an award-winning design studio and creative agency with a simple passion: to enhance everyday experience by design. A combination of extensive technical knowledge coupled with a thirst for exploring conceptual ideas allows us to deliver beautifully tailored buildings as well as bold, creative and engaging installations. We are based in Peckham Levels in South East London and Richard and I have both lived in south London for many years. Before setting up AO in 2013 we worked for Norman Foster, but both felt a need to work more closely with clients and end users. This led us individually to seek work with different, smaller design studios across London, gaining us a wide range of experience and differing expertise in the field. Growing up together from the age of ten also means we share common values, but most importantly we share a desire to pursue quality and excellence through our work. This is what clients benefit from when they commission us.

The last store sadly closed in Brixton in 2012, so I in particular have very deep roots in South London. Our business name Alexander Owen is in fact directly linked to the infamous Brixton riots of 1982. Alexander is Richard’s middle name and Owen is mine, which is a particularly dark comedic reminder of the debt my parents found themselves in and the money they were ‘owing’ to the banks trying to keep the shoe shop alive following the riots. In the more recent past, Peckham and East Dulwich have changed markedly, but Peckham most notably so. Around 20052010 Bold Tendencies and Frank’s Cafe put Peckham on the map among London’s creative fringe and in 2012 the East London Line extension opened Peckham up to a much wider audience and created an influx of people looking to experience a new pocket of London, rich in culture and creativity. This change in demographic had a big impact on our private homeowner work because at the time our client base was predominantly in east, west and south-west London, but from 2012 we started to win really interesting projects in Peckham and East Dulwich. The influx of young families, often arriving from other creative areas of London such as Hackney and Dalston, looking for bigger properties, more space and greater value, also found an abundance

Our relationship with Peckham and East Dulwich began in earnest around 2010 when Richard first moved to Peckham from Brixton and I followed shortly after to East Dulwich. My great, great, great grandfather had a successful shoe business,with stores in Brixton, Crystal Palace and Peckham. 67

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of good schools, so Peckham and East Dulwich really did start to change and property prices rapidly went through the roof (for better or for worse). One of our first projects on Choumert Road around 2014 won a Green Build Award for sustainability and most recently projects on Amott Road and Hansler Road have been shortlisted for the Surface Design Awards 2021 and also this year’s NLA’s Don’t Move Improve! Our main driver, domestically speaking, is about designing bespoke homes for unique people, and Peckham and East Dulwich have these in abundance.

as the start of an ongoing sequence of special projects for the site. The bulk of the scheme was located in the main public stairwell and whilst a relatively modest brief in terms of scale and physical intervention, it had a huge impact both for us and for Peckham Levels itself. The scheme is a bold, immersive, colour installation which quickly became synonymous with Peckham. Visitors sharing images of themselves on the stairs on social media made it one of the most photographed spaces in London. Imagery of the installation found its way into Time Out and Conde Nast Traveller magazines and it even won us a Pinterest Award. The knock on effect of this project was an incredible graphic art installation in Resorts World Birmingham, for which we won Johnstone’s Painter of the Year 2020 in the commercial sector.

A more recent newcomer to Peckham that had a big impact on our business was Peckham Levels, which opened in 2018. Peckham Levels is home to seven floors and over 100 local and independent businesses and we very much saw this project as an opportunity and platform to gain greater visibility for our company. We secured an office there initially through an application and interview process and Peckham Levels subsequently tasked us with developing an internal wayfinding system for the building,

These changes to the very public and very private extremes of Peckham and East Dulwich have formed the bedrock of our workload over the last few years, and they’re what make the area and its surroundings so interesting for us because they’re so

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creative and dynamic. From an academic perspective, change in large cities such as London and in pockets such as Peckham, can occur for a myriad of reasons and in many different ways, each with varying degrees of foresight, control, predictability and of course, success.

that we must fit our plans.’ That’s what’s so amazing about South London, and Peckham in particular - it’s certainly changing and adapting but there’s an abundance of personality which thrives there and this makes for a very real and tangible sense of place, of community and of home. For us, places and spaces undergoing change, or those in need of love, are our playgrounds. We take undervalued, underused and unloved spaces and make them bold, engaging and meaningful. We build connections between buildings, spaces and the people that use them; but ultimately our overriding passion and drive is to enhance everyday experience by design.

Change can be stimulated by people, by buildings or by infrastructure, and for Peckham and East Dulwich, people and transport played the major roles. When speaking of urban change and the ensuing benefits, the likes of which we saw as a business, it’s important to remember that there is very often an adverse impact on existing businesses, residents and culture. An awareness and sensitivity to the socio-cultural and economic impacts of change upon places such as Peckham shouldn’t be ignored and in fact should be actively protected and engaged from a bottom-up rather than top-down perspective. Jane Jacobs, the great author on urban renewal, famously said ‘There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them

Richard Bridges and James Webster set up Alexander Owen Architecture using their respective middle names to create the brand. They first met at school in 1993 and having crossed paths at art school and also university, they later both worked at Foster + Partner. After gaining experience at smaller design studios across London, which allowed them to work more closely with clients and end users they struck out on their own. aoarchitecture.co.uk

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A LONDON NOTEBOOK By Geoff Tuffs Sunday 19th January 1994 St Pancras Way ends at St Pancras Road by the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (formerly a workhouse, I believe). As a baptism is to take place shortly in St Pancras Old Church, it is my good fortune to find the church open. I have a brief chat with the priest and he tells me it has been broken into 14 times. The interior is essentially an oblong, simple and quite charming with many tablets and memorials, but not too many. On the walls there are small Stations of the Cross so evidently this is a high church - which the priest confirms, at the same time handing me a guide book. Culross Buildings is a large block of Victorian workers’ dwellings in Battle Bridge Road, opposite the gasworks, but these, like a similar block in Stanley Passage, have answerphones and I can see across an old area of former railway land that the long Culross block has a roof garden. They look slummy and possibly they are in part but not wholly so. I remember my Uncle Dick telling me that when he was a boy in his EC2 neighbourhood you had buildings - he lived in Allin’s Buildings in

Leonard Street - that varied greatly in quality; some were quite decent while others were rough and had that reputation. I suppose the only word to describe the long rear view of Culross Buildings is grim. I suspect that some of the residents can well articulate their views on the likely disruption this area will suffer with the coming of the Channel Tunnel terminal. Behind me is Wellers Court, appropriately named after a man whose knowledge of London was extensive and peculiar. My particular destination this afternoon is Gwynne Place Riceyman Steps in Arnold Bennett’s novel. I’ve been here before but a long time ago; before the hotel on King’s Cross Road was built which damages the flinty quaintness of this corner. There’s no church in Granville Square above the steps. Was there one when Bennett wrote his novel?* I can hardly believe it but Lloyd’s Dairy is still trading on the corner of Amwell Street and River Street; as much a survival as Daniels’ little shop in Moreton Terrace, Pimlico. Although tired and faded it is still entered between two Doric

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columns. The stock is meagre: tins, crisps, cereals, that sort of staple, and notably, in the old fashioned windows a display of Lloyd’s original milk bottles. Again like Daniels’ dairy, there is no pretence of display; everything is of a departed social time. The elderly lady owner comes out to have a chat and tells me she married the original owner’s son and has been here for 44 years. Hanging high up inside are two framed posters from the 1940s: a young boy entitled ‘Milk makes Men’; and a girl with the maxim ‘Milk gives Health.’ *To answer my own question: yes, there was. Bennett’s novel was first published in 1923 and in the second volume of ‘Wonderful London,’ probably published about 100 years ago, there is a photograph of the steps with a few ragamuffins on them and a church in the square above with the week front prominent.

Geoff has been writing his London notebook for 45 years, excerpts first appeared in the Journal of the London Society in 1998

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FROM THE ARCHIVES Mark Prizeman looks back to the 1920s and some key women’s contributions to the Society A ‘hectograph’ list of the candidates for the committee of the London Society in 1920 identifies the first two women to stand. ‘Lady Cooper’ is shuffled in with all the Lords, Sirs and Esquires whilst Miss M M Jeffrey sits alone at the bottom betwixt the two columns. As a note to archivists; this is not the familiar meth-smelling, ‘roneo’ - a process invented three years later but a ‘jellograph’ similar to that used to forge documents in WWII POW camps.

the ground up: domestic identity and social reception spaces all orchestrated by the home maker. With 1.3 million more women in the population than men in 1920, further focus was added to the views and requirements of designing for a modern life. This year marks the centenary of the Society’s most seminal publication - London of the Future. Comprised of 18 separately authored, specialist chapters on an extensive range of the Society’s concerns - road provision, housing provision, open spaces, railway re-organisation and proposals for how the Society wished to improve various components of London including the Green Belt (a phrase coined by Octavia Hill), the South Bank (with the committee’s internal obsession in replacing Charing Cross Bridge) and smoke pollution, along with discourses on the docks, the Channel Tunnel and discourse on ‘the sense of place’.

Lady Diana Cooper was a much adored social linchpin who would prove very useful in rallying admirers to the cause of the Society. She would not remain on the committee long as after becoming an actress at the age of 30, she went on an extended theatrical tour of the United States. Both her son, John Julius Norwich and grand-daughter Artemis Cooper became renowned authors and their respective collections of her considerable The title is available on ‘Print on demand’ or a genuine copy pops up from time to time on letter writing illuminate her life. Abebooks.co.uk. While many contributions are succinct and to the point, some have Maude M Jeffrey was secretary to the magnificent social philanthropist Octavia eventually come to pass such as the clean air acts of 1956 and a few are now quaint with age Hill (read Gillian Darley’s biography). - such as glassing over Marylebone to create Maude was recruited into the Women’s an aerodrome. The curated contributions Pioneer Housing Group in 1917 for her nevertheless create a collective sense of experience in housing management excited engagement of how it is possible gained with Hill and she would provide to think positively of the future of a large a very useful insight into the new ways multilayered, contradictory and invigorating of thinking about the impending intercity beyond the distractions of mere gossip or war obsession with providing better houses for everyone. Houses by the 20th self serving interests. century had ceased to become places of work and become homes which with little precedent had to be invented from Mark Prizeman is an architect and a trustee of The London Society prizeman.co.uk. 72

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20 BEST LONDON RECORDS We asked our members and social media followers to nominate their favourite songs or albums about, or inspired by London, so – greetings, pop pickers – here’s our very own Top 20

LDN Lily Allen

Allen’s mockney hit of 2007, an ironic jaunt around the sunny streets “Everything seems nice, but if you look twice you can see it’s all lies”.

‘A’ Bomb in Wardour Street The Jam

The Liberty of Norton Folgate Madness

No jaunty irony for Paul Weller’s, just violence, repression, hate and war. A regular London night out in the 1970s.

Camden’s Nutty Boys deliver a late career triumph. The Word magazine described it as “Peter Ackroyd writing for The Kinks, …it is Madness’s masterpiece.”

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Rainy Night in Soho The Pogues

As well as rousing Celtic punk tracks, Shane McGowan wrote some beautiful love songs and ‘Rainy Night’ is one of his best.

London Pride Noel Coward

Sweet Thames Flow Softly Ewen MacColl

The first track in our Top 20 that is an unequivocal celebration of the city, or at least the spirit of the inhabitants, Coward wrote this stirring bit of WW2 patriotism during the height of the Blitz in 1941.

Soho Square Kirsty MacColl

MacColl never had the chart success that her talent and reputation deserved. After her untimely death in 2000 a plaque to her was unveiled on “an empty bench in Soho Square” where fans still meet on her birthday.

Kirsty’s father, folk singer Ewen, wrote this beautiful ballad, tracing a love affair from Woolwich to Hampton Court until “now alas the tide has changed, my love she has gone from me”.

London’s Brilliant When it’s Raining Wendy James

An Elvis Costello penned track on how the glamour of city life doesn’t match the reality, but it’s still where you want to be – “London’s dismal and divine”, and ain’t that the truth. 74

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Warwick Avenue Duffy

(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea Elvis Costello

Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner Hubert Gregg

Breaking up is hard to do, particularly in Little Venice.

Back to the 70s again for Costello’s rejection of all things SW3.

Another song written during WW2 and evoking the memory of sing-alongs round the old Joanna, this is, let’s face it, the anthem for all of us who call London home; “maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner, that I love London Town”.

Electric Avenue Eddy Grant

Grant wrote this huge hit in response to the Brixton riots of 1981, making the name of the first street to be lit by electric light famous around the world.

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London is the Place for Me Lord Kitchener

Trinidadian Kitchener (real name Aldwyn Roberts) was the ‘grand master of calypso’ and sang this disembarking from the Empire Windrush in 1948. Knowing what the Windrush generation have had to face makes the song’s optimism seem horribly misplaced.

Werewolves of London Warren Zevon

Up the Junction Squeeze

Streets of London Ralph McTell

Altogether now, “ah hooo”. Unfortunately, Lee Ho Fook’s is now gone, so you’ll have to get your beef chow mein elsewhere on Gerrard Street.

West End Girls Pet Shop boys

“about rough boys getting a bit of posh” according to Neil Tennant; the excitement of a night out “up west” in the 1980s.

These days even a basement in Clapham would be beyond the budget of most, but the Common is still there, as windy as ever.

Baker Street Gerry Rafferty

That saxophone solo. The flipside of the capital: “it’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul”.

Like our number 4, this buskers’ favourite shows us that the poor, the homeless and the lonely are as much a part of London’s past as its present.

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REGULARS

London Calling The Clash

Waterloo Sunset The Kinks

Another 1970s apocalyptic vision of the capital, but one that has become a theme tune for the city, this was always going to be in the running for the top spot of our hit parade, but it just loses out to...

This was most nominated, most voted for – it seems that over 50 years on, Terry still meets Julie not just at Waterloo Station, but in the hearts of London Society members.

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

BOOK REVIEWS The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs Reviewed by Rob Fiehn The Walker. On Finding and Losing Yourself in the Modern City Reviewed by Roxane McMeeken Underground Cities - New Frontiers in Urban Living Reviewed By Rob Fiehn Vic Keegan’s Lost London Reviewed by Don Brown London’s Mayor at 20: Governing a Global City in the 21st Century Reviewed by Martha Grekos

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BOOK REVIEW

THE ALTERNATIVE GUIDE TO THE LONDON BOROUGHS EDITED BY OWEN HATHERLEY PUBLISHED BY OPEN HOUSE £18.99 REVIEWED BY ROB FIEHN

context (I am aware this makes me extremely biased towards this particular chapter).

The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs by Open House is a thing of beauty and charm. You wouldn’t expect much less with editor Owen Hatherley at the helm but this achievement is made even more impressive when you realise that the publication was turned around from concept to completion in a matter of weeks, during a pandemic.

The book was promoted on social media for advance sales and it was clear that it would be a collection of essays but the finished product is much more richly illustrated than I expected. A glorious section of the Barbican accompanies the City of London chapter, while Merlin Fulcher has included his own school photos for the section on Wandsworth, written by Dr Ruth Lang.

The premise is simple, there are 33 boroughs in London so each one gets a short essay taken from the individual perspective of the author. It appears as if the 33 writers have been given free rein to represent their chosen location in a format that works for them, which ranges from walking around the Becontree Estate, taking a bus to Brixton or exploring the London County Council archives to understand municipal architecture. These different approaches make the whole book more compelling, as it’s hard to get bored when the style and subject matter varies from chapter to chapter.

The end result is a collection of very personal experiences of London that will resonate with a wide audience, whether you are from the capital or not. The stories about families and identity are pretty universal and I would be surprised to find a reader who claimed they couldn’t connect with any of the writing. The varying perspectives on one city reminds me of Calvino’s Invisible Cities, in which Marco Polo describes multiple locations within Kublai Kahn’s empire but they are all really intimately connected to Venice. Unlike that book, the different authors in the Open House guide provide a lightness that makes me want to pick up my old copies of Granta that feature short stories and introduce me to new writers. The publication itself takes you on a journey, led by people who care deeply about the tour, which in reality is the best part of Open House that some of us can’t experience in person right now.

With such a plurality of voices it was inevitable that I wouldn’t like all of the essays but I was surprised to find myself drawn to the more personal stories, rather than the architectural descriptions. As a resident of Waltham Forest, I was particularly taken with the experiences of Eli Davies as she considers her Chingford background and the area’s relationship to its parent city. She also had to deal with explaining where she was from when at Sussex University, which is something I experienced while at the same institution, albeit from a south London suburban

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

THE WALKER. ON FINDING AND LOSING YOURSELF IN THE MODERN CITY MATTHEW BEAUMONT PUBLISHED BY VERSO BOOKS £18.99 REVIEWED BY ROXANE MCMEEKEN, ING MEDIA In this collection of essays Matthew Beaumont explores the politics and poetry of walking in cities. Each chapter examines a canonical author’s writings about lone walks through a city, including Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop and Virginia Wolfe’s Mrs Dalloway. Through these analyses Beaumont weaves a fascinating discussion about the relationship between the metropolis and the pedestrian. The result is an absorbing investigation of the experience of modern urban life. While written just before the pandemic, The Walker is now especially poignant.

As wide-ranging as The Walker is, it focuses on London and Paris, and more disappointingly, it is white male biased, with each chapter devoted to a white writer, of which only one is female. There must be another book’s worth of analysis to write about the urban walking experiences and meanings of women and minority communities.

The way you walk in the city is a product of socio-economic factors, Beaumont argues. Idle wandering is for Charles Baudelaire’s privileged and idle flaneur, while those who work must pace briskly between home and the office, like TS Eliot’s London Bridge automatons. And what should we conclude about a society where night walking in the city is safe only for white men?

Watch Matthew Beaumont discussing The Walker at a recent ING Bookclub session: https://www.ing-media.com/features/ingmedia-book-club

With that caveat, The Walker provokes lots of worthwhile thoughts and can be read at the moment as a guidebook for returning to city centres as we emerge from lockdown.

The psychology of the solitary city walk is explored too. Walking the streets can inspire and energise you, or alienate and exclude. It can provide self-discovery or escape. For Peter Walsh in Mrs Dalloway, walking through London is a journey through mental states ranging from anonymity to exhilaration and then predatoriness.

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BOOK REVIEW

UNDERGROUND CITIES - NEW FRONTIERS IN URBAN LIVING EDITED BY PAMELA JOHNSTON, JOHN ENDICOTT AND NANCY F LIN PUBLISHED BY OPEN HOUSE £29.95 REVIEWED BY ROB FIEHN

age, with more optimism and a dash of naivety. Although the proponents of these radical forms of underground urbanism were idealists, they seemed lost in their visions and failed to make the case for their projects, instead of simply improving life on the surface. Ecopolis founder Guy Rottier argues that “we have to invent the future, not just submit to it,” whereas I think it is now more accepted that the best architectural and engineering designs respond to problems rather than supercede them.

In Isaac Asimov’s 1954 science fiction classic The Caves of Steel, the author imagines a distant future where the global population has reached 8 billion (we’re almost there now) and humanity has retreated under the surface of the planet to exist in vast subterranean metropolises. The characters in the story are torn between the Medievalists, who long for a return to a traditional life above ground, and the Spacers that promise a more exciting life off-world. Either way, the existence in the sunken precincts is clearly not tenable in the long term – something has to change for people to move forward.

This unfortunate starting point does slightly undermine the rest of the case studies, which make up the bulk of the publication, as the wide-eyed enthusiasm has been replaced with the pragmaticism that is normally associated with below-grade projects – something the authors were setting out to subvert. This is reinforced later in the book with examples such as the tunnels built by Viet Cong soldiers in the 1960s. We might be impressed with the manner in which these routes were constructed but as a product of war they were only created out of extreme necessity.

I mention this novel when reviewing Underground Cities: New Frontiers in Urban Living because the roots of subsurface colonization are born out of those same utopian visions that were prevalent in the 1950s and 60s, formed from a belief that technological advancement was the solution to the ills of the world. Asimov’s world is a marvel but also feels unbearably claustrophobic, even if that was not the author’s intention (he was a self-confessed claustrophile). The contributors of this new book from AECOM would like to challenge these preconceptions and reveal the opportunities provided by excavation as climate change and mass urbanisation make us reappraise how and where we live.

Underground Cities is a fascinating read and clearly the product of years of painstaking research for projects across the globe. It reveals the possibilities opened up by digging down, unlocking places that are suffering from the harshest conditions, which will become ever more relevant during the climate emergency. However, this reader remains convinced that living and working above ground is still infinitely more preferable and we should be focused on improving these conditions before we retire to the caves of steel.

An accessible and fascinating introductory essay by Pamela Johnson lays the groundwork for the book, where she reveals the stories behind the Minnesota Experimental City and Ecopolis. It seems incredible now that such sunken cities were ever given credence but it was a different 81

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

VIC KEEGAN’S LOST LONDON PUBLISHED BY SHAKESPEARES MONKEY REVIEWED BY DON BROWN

As you’d expect from a former journalist and current poet, the stories flow and the words are well-chosen; the illustrations and photographs bring the past to life and highlight the present, and the map of locations allows you to plot your own walk around London’s lost treasures.

Followers of the OnLondon Twitter feed will know that every week, among the pieces on London’s politics, transport and planning, up pops a tweet about London’s history. Vic Keegan’s ‘Lost London’ column has been a feature of the website since its inception, bringing stories of the capital through its built environment. These include London’s oldest structure – 6,000 year old wooden piles in the river at Vauxhall – the huge Northumberland House at Charing Cross, and this week’s offering (number 182), Robert Smirke’s General Post Office at St Martin’s le Grand.

In his preface Vic says that he is finding it more difficult to find places of general interest and wonders whether he will reach number 200. Let’s hope he is being pessimistic and that ‘Lost London 2’ will appear in a couple of years with another 100+ of these delightful and informative vignettes. You can follow Vic Keegan on twitter @vickeegan and @LonStreetWalker

Now – for those of us who prefer reading ink on paper to pixels on screen - the first 160 of these pieces have now been gathered together in a handsome hardcover book, taking us across the cities of London and Westminster, with occasional forays north, south, east and west. Here we can read about ‘the Exploding Temple of Green Park’, where to find the remains of the first Somerset House, Albion Mills on Blackfriars Bridge (probably the inspiration for Blake’s ‘Dark, Satanic Mills’), get biographies of forgotten characters, trace the outline of long-demolished structures, visit historic pubs and, generally, find out more about our wonderful, everchanging, shape-shifting city.

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BOOK REVIEW

LONDON’S MAYOR AT 20: GOVERNING A GLOBAL CITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY TONY TRAVERS, JACK BROWN, AND RICHARD BROWN PUBLISHED BY BITEBACK REVIEWED BY MARTHA GREKOS

It’s a very easy read short book but still touches on many topics (albeit ambitious in its coverage) and it is thoughtfully set out. It is not just a book about Livingstone, Johnson and Khan. It is actually a book about London. The city has always been resilient and has carved its own path and the book will make you think what you want the next Mayor of London to do. What sort of powerful and effective political voice and advocate for the capital, both domestically and internationally, do you want him or her to be?

It is 20 years since London has had a directly elected Mayor and this books reflects on the setting up, running and workings in the mayor’s office, or as Tony Travers describes his chapters the ‘design’, ‘evolution’ and ‘operation’ - naturally ending with an ‘evaluation’ chapter. There is a long list of a variety of contributors (that includes politicians, academics, strategic advisors, architects, journalists, chief economists, policy fellows to name a few), which makes it even more enriching and illuminating as the book covers comprehensively the mayoral powers and policy, provides an academic account of City Hall’s machinery of government, has interviews with Sadiq Khan and Ken Livingstone (though not with Johnson) and there is a wonderful collection of insider stories from prominent participants and observers. All of this reflects on the changed political landscape a Mayor of London and a London Assembly has had on London these past 20 years and what lies ahead. You can also feel that our City is cosmopolitan and that politically is it mainly Labour. There is even a foreword by Tony Blair who rightly starts with the statement “Could we imagine not having a Mayor of London today?” I will leave you to answer that question after you finish reading the book and considering the evaluation chapter, especially under the title ‘The Future’. Not surprisingly, Blair makes his political statement that it was because Labour, who took office in 1997, that engaged as a government in the biggest constitutional reform Britain has ever seen in modern times to create a London mayor, giving this as an example of the change which can be made by progressive politics.

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What does the future hold for our modern metropolis? It’s one that is resilient (on many levels) and for that our next Mayor of London needs to be able to handle and deal smoothly with future challenges. He or she also needs to be able to work collaboratively with Central Government to make the changes possible. The future of London is in the hands of those governments, businesses and entrepreneurs who will work together to create a resilient London. Personally, I feel that the next Mayor of London will need to be a key player in articulating the policy options facing the city post-Covid and post-Brexit. I am a Londoner. I am born and bred here and still live and work here. I want my City to be the best for all. This means that our next Mayor will need to make some tough decisions on things like how to recover confidence in public transport and crowded places; build a mixture of houses in many parts of London; propose stronger utilities and transport infrastructure; take a lead on climate change initiatives; and foster relationships internationally so our city still flourishes with investment domestically but also from abroad. 83

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

A multifaceted theme of ‘change’ asking ‘who is London for?’

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Has London ever experienced the level of upheaval, complexity and unknown we face now? Pandemic, Brexit, climate change, housing crisis, privilege. Will things ever go back to normal? Or will this perfect storm have brought about profound and permanent change? This year’s London Society events programme takes as its overall theme “change”. The Capital experienced an unprecedented year of upheaval during 2020 and this has led to a series of big questions about the impact of the global pandemic, Brexit and climate change – alongside the normal pressures that the city faces as it grows and develops.

completed a publication for TfL on new forms of development. The directors, Mellis Haward and Kyle Buchanan, will explore the health and wellbeing of housing design and how this is valued by commissioners and communities alike.

Be it short- or long-lasting, this will be a year of change, and we invite you to join us as we explore what change looks like through a number of programme strands, including Ways of living, Ways of working, Transport and How we meet (which considers the effects on the public realm, retail hubs and going out).

The How we Meet strand is under the purview of Roland Karthaus of Matter Architecture and Diane Cunningham from the Assembly Line UK, and both are part of the High Streets Task Force. They will be examining the changing role of public space, especially given its renewed importance to civic life as we all learn to congregate outside.

And in line with our motto - “valuing the past; looking to the future” we shall try and put these issues into context: how does now compare to previous times of profound change? And what opportunities do we have to bring about the change we want?

BDG are taking an international approach to the future of Working. What will be the effect of ‘WFH’; even once offices reopen we are likely to be working from home to a greater extent than pre-pandemic. Will this more flexible working cause a hollowing out of our commercial centres? What will this mean for our cities?

We will also be running the Planning School again this autumn, and the Architecture School returns in spring for a new series of classes on the built environment. There are also a series of walks and virtual tours to examine different areas of the city and some of the new developments and buildings within it.

MICA is looking at London’s transport. With TfL’s revenues devastated, how do we finance public transport and how else might we move millions of people around the capital? At present, events are planned to be digital, but as lockdown eases - and when it is quite safe to do so - we shall move back to holding ‘physical’ events and tours. We hope that you can join us at some point this year.

The Ways of Living programme will be curated by the architectural practice Archio. This emerging practice has been developing its experience in housing and has recently

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

Despite the challenges of lockdown, the Society still managed to run a full programme of events for 2020 and the new technology meant we had more people attending our talks and tours than in previous years

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We also looked at how the city is experienced by different groups within it. We Made That’s events on the public realm examined how places are used differently according to age and to culture, and how they need to be designed accordingly.

As with so many others, The London Society’s plans for 2020 were almost completely thrown by the successive lockdowns and social distancing measures. That we were able to put together a programme at all is thanks to the flexibility of our theme ‘curators’ and our speakers, adapting many of our scheduled meetings into ‘webinars’, and devising virtual tours in place of walks and visits.

Professor Panikos Panayi talked further about the migrant experience of the capital in a discussion of his new book “Migrant City”, and Dominic Burris North charted the City of London’s links with the transatlantic slave trade in a virtual tour.

Our main events for 2020 centred around the theme of ‘public’, with talks scheduled on public housing, art, transport, public space and even public houses. Although some events couldn’t happen, in many cases the repurposing of the talk for an online audience actually added to the experience. For example, The London Ambler’s (Mike Althorpe) planned walks about public housing translated well, with Mike able to have aerial shots, Google Street views and historical images to trace various areas’ development. And what David Knight’s ‘virtual pub crawl’ lacked in refreshment, it made up for in the breadth of the places that could be covered.

The most commented-on talk of the year was writer and broadcaster Robert Elms’s Banister Fletcher Lecture entitled “Cities Need Slums”. Several hundred watched the event live, and well over 1,000 have subsequently viewed the recording. A full write-up appears elsewhere in this Journal, but Elms gave a truly invigorating cry from the heart on how the rush to ‘improve’ the capital threatens to destroy the very things that give London its dynamism and creative energy. What the challenges of 2020 taught us was the resilience and flexibility of our speakers and experts and - more importantly - of our membership. Virtual attendances this year exceed the usual ‘physical’ numbers, and we had attendees from all over the UK and even further afield. The lessons we were hurriedly forced to learn when lockdown hit will allow the Society to extend its reach even once ‘normality’ returns, with plans in place to continue our online broadcasts of talks so that as many people as possible are able to access them.

And our regular Planning School was able to take an international perspective, with contributors from Paris, Tokyo and Boston USA joining us online to compare and contrast the experience of those cities with that of London. The Planning School will return this year, as will the Architecture School. The Society’s role as a forum for debate for London came to the fore in an event cohosted with the OnLondon website on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). This was - unlike the LTN arguments on social media - conducted with civility and with both sides genuinely engaging, demonstrating once again that Twitter is not real life.

We look forward to seeing you - whether in person or virtually - in 2021.

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS Corporate supporters play an important role in the London Society, providing much-needed funds for our administration and membership recruitment

The Society would like to proffer a huge thank you to the organisations listed opposite, all of which support the ongoing work of the London Society as Corporate Supporters. Their donations provide much-needed funds for our administration and marketing, allowing us to organise more events and to reach more people than would otherwise be possible.

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS RECEIVE: • u p to five free tickets for all talks, lectures, debates and social events (including the Summer Party) • a n unlimited number of members’-rate tickets for all walks, tours and other events • fi ve copies of each issue of the London Society Journal and of each new Society White Paper

Should your company wish to become a supporter of the Society, please contact director@londonsociety.org.uk for further information.

• c ompany logos on the Society website and within the Journal • i nvitations to attend the regular All Party Parliamentary Group on London’s Planning and Built Environment (usually held at Westminster). • a digital copy of Planning in London, the quarterly magazine produced by the London Planning Forum • t he opportunity to organise events such as building tours for members, or to sponsor drinks at the Society’s other events The London Society is a registered charity, so donations under the Corporate Supporter scheme are tax deductible.

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Allies and Morrison

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

BANISTER FLETCHER LECTURE 2020 “Cities need slums”

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Robert Elms argues that cities are at their best when ragged, frayed and vibrant and even beyond, so the city is losing those centres of energy and excitement that allow it to reinvent itself. The danger is that we will hollow out the centre of our city, and it will become a ‘bourgeois wonderland’ that is neat, ordered, polite – and utterly sterile.

In this year’s Banister Fletcher Lecture, Robert Elms spoke with passion about the changes that London has seen over the past 20 years and how ‘Mammon and Co.’ with its need to make the city neat, tidy and orderly threatens to stifle the life and the creativity of the capital.

Where will the next generation of Londoners live? As a young man, Elms lived in a squat in a deserted Tottenham fire station, with the bath in the kitchen, and an outside loo that froze in winter. It was far from perfect, but it was a great place to live when young and starting out. These days there are no squats, no seedy basements, no places close to the centre where the economically less able can find places to live, work and party.

It was a very different Banister Fletcher Lecture in 2020. The Society couldn’t gather together for our biggest event of the year and so writer and broadcaster Robert Elms spoke to us over Zoom from his home in Camden. And what a talk it was – entertaining, provocative, and as bracing and crisp as a January morning, as Elms attacked the people who have given us a ‘city designed by greed’ that has lost its points of arrival for the young, the creative and the dynamic. ‘Cities need slums,’ said Elms. The places that are scruffy, difficult and dangerous are also the places that give a place vitality: ‘Cities are at their best when ragged, frayed and vibrant,’ he added.

Instead we have a city full of new builds of glass and steel, with concierges, gyms and basement cinemas, whose prices are far beyond what the majority of the young can afford. ‘‘luxury’ and ‘apartment’ are the two words that are a pox on London Life’. There were caustic criticisms of the developments at Paddington Basin, Nine Elms, Battersea Power Station, and the ‘venal, vital and vivid wonderland’ of Kings Cross was now an elegant, well-executed shopping mall.

Elms was at pains to point out that he was not against gentrification, and didn’t have a rose-tinted view of the past, nor a romantic view of poverty. The ‘slums’ he was talking about were not the families in substandard B&Bs, or the migrant workers crammed into sheds in suburban gardens, but the ‘scruffy, rundown places’ that are affordable but central, the places that are edgy and exciting. ‘Culture grows in dark, dank places’ he said, ‘And there’s been a conscious effort to exclude all such places from London.’

London shouldn’t be defined by the brands that command the highest prices, asserted Elms, and we shouldn’t buy into the corporate ‘luxury’ view. It’s time to reclaim the city – we need homes that are not fancy, not luxury; we need areas close to the centre that can have a patchwork of different people and different businesses. The alternative is to risk losing everything that makes London a great place to live and watch it be replaced by a ‘London theme park’.

In the recent past people arriving in the capital would live in Notting Hill, Brick Lane, Kings Cross, Islington, Camden, but all that is impossible now, and people are being pushed out to the very margins of London

If you missed the talk you can see the recording via https://bit.ly/3lG4mvv 91

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APPG UPDATE: SUBURBAN TASKFORCE

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The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for London’s Planning and Built Environment met in December 2020 to discuss the emerging findings of the cross-parliamentary Suburban Taskforce, for which the APPG provides the Secretariat, ahead of an Update Report which was launched in February 2021. Update by Jonathan Manns The cross-party Taskforce was established, with the backing of the Government, to shine a light on the suburbs in order to identify and secure the clear, long-term and properly resourced policies needed to support thriving, sustainable and inclusive suburban areas. It has spent since March 2020 reviewing evidence on the state of Britain’s suburbs in order to make recommendations to the Government in Summer 2021 on policy initiatives to enhance them. It is co-chaired by Dr Rupa Huq MP and David Simmons MP, assisted by UCL as Knowledge Partner and with an expert Advisory Board chaired by British urbanist Jonathan Manns.

Members of the Taskforce then heard feedback from some of the respondents to the “Call for Evidence” which ran from August-October 2020. This included Prof Laura Vaughan (UCL), Georgina Day (LB Enfield), Richard Stacey (Evoke Transport Consultants) and James Mitchell (Axiom Architects). They collectively touched on matters from the importance of local culture and identity, to variations in built form and key local concerns such as the nature of change and perceptions of travel and congestion. Commenting on the update, Dr Rupa Huq MP stated: “Since this research began, suburban society has changed in ways unimaginable at the time with working from home for white collar staff, a new appreciation of space, and lockdown all subsequently normalised. This provides a solid basis for the next phase of this groundbreaking work to build on... and I personally can’t wait.”

Jonathan began by setting out the Taskforce’s purpose and programme before summarising progress alongside UCL’s Dr Lucy Natarajan and Dr Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros. They suggested that the analysis suggests suburban areas can be seen as clearly distinct from urban or rural locations but cautioned against a one-size-fits-all approach. They instead put forward the proposition that it may be more appropriate to understand them against a spectrum of characteristics and highlighted the continued relevance of long-established ‘suburban debates’ about their relationship to urban centres and management of growth pressures, in addition to the potentially transformative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jonathan Manns is a Board Director at Rockwell Property, and a London Society trustee. 93

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

JOIN THE LONDON SOCIETY

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If you are passionate about our city and want to be part of the debate about its future, the London Society is for you.

BENEFITS • priority booking and discounted rates for our walks, talks, debates and lectures

HOW TO JOIN This is a multi-layered city – exciting, dynamic, inclusive, and forward-looking, with a rich history that makes it different from anywhere else in the world. It can also be infuriating, the pressures of its success causing issues with housing, infrastructure, poverty and crime.

• a ccess to experts on London life, history and the built environment

• tours of new and important buildings – some not open to the public The London Society exists to provide a forum to discuss how we can make the capital a better • social events in intriguing locations, where place in which to live and work, using the you can meet like-minded Londoners history of past developments and innovations to inform the debate on its future. The Society • free ticket for our annual Banister is non-aligned, its purpose being to generate Fletcher Lecture ideas about how best our city can develop. • annual Journal of the London Society Your membership helps the Society organise its growing programme of talks, schools, walks RATES and other events. Individual membership costs just £40 for a full 12 months, with special discounted rates for students (£25) and families (£60 for up to four people). Professional Membership (£125) allows businesses to share the benefits among their staff.

You’ll find full details at londonsociety.org.uk/join 95

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2020

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JOURNAL OF THE LONDON SOCIETY 2021

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Journal of the London Society 2021 (no. 475)

Articles inside

BANISTER FLETCHER LECTURE 2020

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2020

APPG UPDATE: SUBURBAN TASKFORCE

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

LONDON SOCIETY THE YEAR AHEAD

BOOK REVIEWS

FROM THE ARCHIVES

CASE STUDY DESTINATION DINING

REGULARS A LONDON NOTEBOOK

ALL CHANGE AT DOCKLANDS

BLOCK PARTY

BLACK AND WHITE TOWN

OUTER SPACES

FEATURES SHARING IS CARING

OPINION A REBIRTH FOR ST PAUL’S

WALL STORIES

FLOATING POINTS

CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION

HEALTH MATTERS

SOUND OF THE SUBURBS

LEADING LIGHTS