Lesson 1: London, a large city undergoing major changes

 The City

Westminster

Part of Docklands

View upriver

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 25^th 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 19^th 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 20^th 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.