What are the economic, demographic, and environmental changes affecting London?
Refer to pages 82 and 83 of your textbook (HATIER, 2de Classes Européennes History Geography)
Comments on document 1, page 82:
- Sprawling is tentaculaire (qui s’étalle)
in French.
- Agglomeration means a large urban area (urban
core plus suburbs and outer suburbs).
- It is a world city (an “anglo-saxon” city, i.e.
where English is spoken).
- In terms of population size, it is only the 25th
largest in the world (biggest in Europe), with about 15 million people (for Greater
London).
- It was the largest urban area in the world (with
the largest port) in the 19th century and up to the 1930s.
- The City in London is the second financial
centre in the world (after New York).
- Document 1 shows London on a smaller scale than
the document 2 map; it gives information on London in its wider context.
- London is at the centre of a spider-web-like
communication network (road and rail) which links the capital to the
South-East, the rest of the UK, and indeed the rest of the world (via the
Channel tunnel rail link).
- Every day, nearly 4 million people commute from
the suburbs to go to work in central London.
- Central London + suburbs + outer suburbs =
Greater London (32 Boroughs spread over 1,500km²).
- The Green Belt (= 5,000km²) around London was
decided as part of the Greater London Plan in 1944; it limits the amount of
housing and urban sprawl, and preserves the countryside.
- The Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty also
preserve the countryside (they were created in 1949 as part of the National
Parks and Access to the Countryside Act).
- New Towns like Stevenage and Harlow were built
to reduce the urban pressure of the centre of the capital.
Comments on document 2,
page 82:
- Urban mutations means changes over time of a town or city.
- There has been a settlement in this area from well
before the Romans.
- Llyn-Din (meaning the fort near the lake) is the Celtic name for what the Romans came
to call Londinium.
- London was built next to a ford crossing on the
Thames, on a relatively high sandy area of the surrounding marshland.
- The City is the oldest part of London, built
around a port and a bridge over the river; London was a merchant city.
- William the Conqueror built the Tower of London
in 1078 to protect the city.
- The City is today a Central Business District (the
eldest of two CBDs) with the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.
- Downstream from the City, docks were built for
large merchant ships between the 1850s and the 1920s during the height of the
British Empire, when Great Britain traded all over the world.
- The dock basins could be closed so the ships
would not keel over at low tide.
- Because of the extensive damage to the docks
during the Blitz and the increase in size of merchant ships, the London docks
were gradually abandoned.
- The Docklands area around Canary Wharf was redeveloped in the 1980s and 1990s into a second CBD (with offices, luxury residencesand an airport).
- Upstream from the City is Westminster, the political centre of London with the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey (where the crowning ceremonies take place).
Answers to the questions on documents
1 and 2:
1) Introduce the maps.
Document 1 map has a smaller scale than document 2 map; it shows London
in its wider context.
Note the Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and New Towns
which are means to limit London’s urban sprawl.
The dense motorway network plus two international airports show that
London is a major transport HUB.
Document is a map that shows detail of the different areas and their
functions of the centre of London.
The dense road and rail routes are indicated (not the underground Tube though).
The smaller map of the original site of London shows us how much London
has spread since medieval times!
2) What relations exist between a city and its environment? What are the
policies that shape the expansion of a city?
The way a town develops obviously evolves according to its environment;
the Thames is what structures the layout of London: buildings spread out along
the north and south banks of the river. The Thames was an essential transport route for merchandise (and people)
up until the first half of the 20th century.
Urban planning also affects how a city grows: for example, in London,
the activity and type of population of the docklands area has changed because
of a redevelopment initiative; the railway lines to the outer suburbs and New
Towns have created residential areas outside of London to relieve urban
pressure; the creation of the Green Belt has discouraged urban sprawl.
3) List the advantages of London’s original site.
The original site had the advantage of: a ford crossing over the Thames
(there were therefore two means of transport at this crossing point: road and
river); dry ground above the surrounding marshland; water; a reasonable
distance to the sea.
4) Describe the different districts and their functions (make use of Google
Earth too!).
EAST END: residential, CBD
CITY: historic centre, business district
WEST END: shopping and leisure
WESTMINSTER: political centre
SOUTH: shopping and leisure, residential
NORTH; residential
Description of document 3, page 83:
- In the foreground, on the right, is Southwark (note the new City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Authority).
- Tower Bridge over the Thames joins the south bank to the north bank of the river.
- In the foreground on the left (north bank) is the Tower of London (the City is to the left, out of the picture).
- Moving downriver, one can see the renovated Saint Katharine’s Docks, inner city residential areas (including council estates), then the new Docklands CBD (recognisable by the tall prestigious buildings).
Comments on documents 4 and 5, page 83:
- Document 4 is an extract from an Australian newspaper (dated 2003), giving an international perspective.
- Document 5 is an extract of an article that appeared in The Economist, a British magazine, in 2004.
- Both documents describe London’s efforts to limit traffic congestion, namely a toll fee on cars entering the centre of London.
- The toll fee was unpopular (because very expensive), but it has proved successful (there has been a 30% drop in car traffic).
- Pollution levels have also declined.
