Sustainable London?: The Future of a Global City

345 Pages·2014·9.624 MB·English

by  Rob Imrie (editor), Loretta Lees (editor)

SUSTAINABLE
LONDON?
The future of a global city
Edited by Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees
SUSTAINABLE LONDON?
The future of a global city
Edited by Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Policy Press North America office:
University of Bristol Policy Press
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© Policy Press 2014
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN: 978 1 44731 059 4 hardcover
ISBN: 978 1 44731 060 0 paperback
The rights of Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees to be identified as editors of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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contributors and not of the University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol
and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from
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Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race,
disability, age and sexuality.
Cover design by Qube, Bristol.
Front cover: image kindly supplied by Rob Imrie.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press, Exeter.
Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners.
In memory of Sir Peter Hall,
a wonderful colleague and one of the best urbanists
and commentators on London

Contents
List of tables, figures and boxes v
Acknowledgements vii
Notes on the editors and contributors ix
Preface xiii
Foreword Ben Rogers xv
Part 1: Sustaining London: the key challenges
one London’s future and sustainable city building 3
Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees
two Privatising London 29
A conversation with Anna Minton
three Just Space: towards a just, sustainable London 43
Robin Brown, Michael Edwards and Richard Lee
Part 2: Sustaining London in an era of austerity
four Sustainable governance and planning in London 67
Emma Street
five Privatisation, managerialism and the changing politics of 91
sustainability planning in London
Mike Raco
six Sustaining a global city at work: resilient geographies of a 111
migrant division of labour
Cathy McIlwaine and Kavita Datta
seven Sustaining London’s welfare in an age of austerity 129
Chris Hamnett
Part 3: The challenges for a socially sustainable London
eight The death of sustainable communities in London? 149
Loretta Lees
nine From supermarkets to community building: Tesco PLC, 173
sustainable place-making and urban regeneration
Rob Imrie and Mike Dolton
ten Educating London: sustainable social reproduction versus 195
symbolic violence?
Tim Butler
eleven Sustaining the public: the future of public space in London? 221
James Fournière
v
Sustainable London?
Part 4: Sustaining London’s environmental future
twelve Rhetoric in transitioning to sustainable travel 245
Robin Hickman
thirteen Building the ‘healthy city’ in London 263
Clare Herrick
fourteen Urban greening and sustaining urban natures in London 283
Franklin Ginn and Robert A. Francis
Part 5: Postscript
fifteen Beyond urban sustainability and urban resilience: towards 305
a socially just future for London
Loretta Lees and Rob Imrie
Index 317
vi
List of tables, figures and boxes
Tables
1.1 Governance and sustainable development in London: the key initiatives 10
7.1 Government benefit expenditure, 2011-12 131
7.2 Claimant rates by benefit type, 2005 133
7.3 Housing Benefit caseload by average yearly award, November 2010 140
12.1 Projected mode share for London 252
12.2 Number of people and vehicles going into and out of the city, daily, 254
in 1854
Figures
1.1 The silent highwayman 7
1.2 One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, London 13
4.1 The South Bank 76
5.1 Total PFI capital costs and unitary payments in London by policy sector as 101
of September 2012
5.2 Number and geographical distribution of PFI projects in London, 2012 102
5.3 Unitary costs repayments to be made on the St Bartholomew’s Hospital 103
Project, 2006-49
7.1 The percentage importance of different benefits, by region, 2009-10 132
7.2 Value of benefit expenditure (£ million), by region and benefit type, 2010 135
7.3 Housing Benefit (£ million per annum), ranked local authorities, 2011-12 136
7.4 Housing Benefit caseload as a percentage of households, March 2012, 138
top 27 local authorities
8.1 The socially cleansed London council estates 154
8.2 Graffiti representing the demolition and rebuilding of the Heygate Estate 156
8.3 The Strata Tower, SE1 157
8.4 Social cleansing: the Heygate Estate 158
8.5 ‘21st century state Rachmanism’ enacted by Southwark Council on 159
the Heygate Estate
8.6 SNAG’s 2012 anti-gentrification walk 164
9.1 The development site 178
9.2 Views across the development site 180
10.1 The Greater London Area showing the Inner London Education Authority 201
10.2 Holland Park Comprehensive School 202
10.3 Highbury Grove Comprehensive School 203
10.4 The East London study area showing the five research locations 207
10.5 Percentage of pupils gaining five or more GCSE grades A*-C including 212
English and maths, 2008/09
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Sustainable London?
10.6 School attainment five or more GCSE grades A*-C, by borough, 213
East London, 2006
11.1 The Undercroft, Southbank Centre, London 225
11.2 Jubilee Park, Canary Wharf, London 229
11.3 CCTV at the periphery of the Canary Wharf Estate, London 230
12.1 Policy packages to reduce transport CO emissions 247
2
12.2 Comparative cycling mode shares 253
13.1 Tuberculosis rates in the UK, 2000-11 271
13.2 Total notified cases of tuberculosis in the UK, 2000-11 271
13.3 Three-year average tuberculosis rates by London borough, 2009-11 272
13.4 Three-year average tuberculosis rates by local area, 2009-11 273
14.1 All-London Green Grid 290
14.2 Top-down ecological engineering 293
14.3 Bottom-up reconciliation ecology 294
Boxes
3.1 An extract from the Just Space Constitution 46
3.2 Just Space opening statement 48
3.3 Extracts from the EiP Panel Report, 2011 50
4.1 South Bank Employers Group’s sustainable development vision 78
4.2 Waterloo Community Development Group Sustainable 79
Development Strategy
5.1 Indicators for monitoring the sustainability effects of the London Plan 97
12.1 Policies and innovative measures used in Dutch, Danish and German cities 257
15.1 A sustainable future for London 312
viii
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Sarah Fielder who helped to copyedit the draft chapters
prior to the submission of the typescript to Policy Press. Her assistance was
invaluable. Our thanks to a team of referees who read draft chapters and provided
feedback to the book’s contributors. We are grateful to Emily Watt, Laura Vickers,
Rebecca Tomlinson and Laura Greaves at Policy Press for their guidance and
advice in the preparation and delivery of the book.
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