History of Regional
Planning in London
Duncan Bowie
University of Westminster
London Research Seminar
8 November 2011
Roman London
Roman London
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No pre Roman settlement in London area.
Raid by Julius Caesar 54BC ;
Invasion by Emperor Claudius AD43
Settlement under Ostorus Scapula AD 50 – first settlement east
of Walbrook with forum and basilica
Burnt down by Boudicca AD60
Reconstruction under Governor Agricola 77-83
Fire in AD 150
City wall constructed at end of 2nd C AD under Governor Clodius
Albinus ( as defence against invasion by Septimus Severus)
Wall enclosed 330 acres. Main fort at Cripplegate with
amphitheatre. Gates at Ludgate, Newgate,Aldersgate,
Bishopsgate and Aldgate ( medieval names)
Medieval London
Early planning policy for London
• 1189 First Mayor of London, Henry Fitz
Ailwin. First Building Code. Regulated
construction including party walls, rights of
light, drainage (rain gutters) and location of
privy pits
• Elizabeth I . Proclamation against any new
building within 3 miles of the City of London
Proclamation widely ignored !
London before the Great Fire
1666 and Christopher Wren
Restoration planners: Wren,
Hooke and Evelyn
Before and after the Fire
• Principles for redevelopment had been
set out in John Evelyn’s pamphlet
Fumifugium in 1661.
• Legislation drafted by Evelyn for
Charles II to establish ring of gardens
around city had not been enacted
• 1667 First Rebuilding Act. Specified
minimum road widths
• 1670 Second Rebuilding Act. Specified
churches to be rebuilt
London Squares in 18th century
John Gwynn: London and
Westminster Improved 1776
Plans for Street Improvements
• John Nash. Regents Park, Regent Street,
Haymarket, Carlton House Terrace (1811-1833 )
• Thomas Maslen. Suggestions for the Improvement of
Our Towns and Houses (1843)
• Henry Bridgman. Street Re-alignment and Reconstruction of Central London (1886)
• Arthur Cawston. A Comprehensive Scheme for Street
Improvements in London (1893)
• Aston Webb. The Mall and Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar
Square (1901)
• George Pepler. Proposal for Ringway (1910)
John Nash and Regency London
John Claudius Loudon 1829
Metropolitan Board of Works
1855-1889 and Sir Joseph
Bazalgette
1889 London County Council
Lord Rosebery, John Williams Benn and
John Burns
Lord Meath’s Green Girdle (1901)
Paul Waterhouse: Imaginary Plan for
London (1907)
Waterhouse plan for central London
road network
Pepler’s Ringway (1910)
London Society Development Plan
for Greater London (1913)
Aston Webb’s plan for Imperial
London – 1901 -1910
London County Council : Kingsway
redevelopment 1905 and 1920-29
Octavia Hill and Hampstead
Garden Suburb from 1909
Raymond Unwin 1929 and 1933
The Independent Plans
• The Bressey regional road plan of 1938
• Royal Academy Plans 1942-1944 (Lutyens)
• The ‘Corbusian’ MARS Plan of 1942 (Arthur
Korn and Felix Samuely)
• The RIBA Plan (1943) by the London regional
reconstruction committee
• New parks system for London proposed by
Ralph Tubbs in Living in Cities (1943)
The MARS plan
The RIBA plan
Tubbs Parks System Plan
Three Traditions
• Imperial Planning
Aston Webb; London Society; Lutyens
and the Royal Academy Plan
• Geddesian Organic planning
Unwin to Abercrombie
• Corbusian Modernisation
- The MARS Plan
Abercrombie 1943
1943 Abercrombie: Working London
Patrick Abercrombie’s plan for ‘London at Work’ (1943).
1943 Abercrombie
Abercrombie 1943
1943 Redevelopment of
Bermondsey
1943 Redevelopment of Stepney
Abercrombie 1944
Abercrombie’s 1944 Greater London Plan
• Assumed industrial dispersal, and little pop growth in
50 km city region
• Decentralise from congested inner to outer
• Adequate Open Space standards meant 600,000
overspill from LCC area plus 400,000 more from
outer London
• Avoid urban sprawl with strong Greenbelt, beyond
normal commuting range
• 400,000 to 8 New Towns, 20-35 km from London
• 600,000 to Expanded Towns 50-60km away
• No regional admin structure: LCC, shires and districts
but a strong role for govt and New Towns
Commission
• Local interests made Expanded Towns initially
problematic
County of London Plan
Review 1960
• Some comprehensive redevelopment – city
and other inner London centres
• Restrictions on office development
• Reducing industrial land zoning
• Increasing residential development in inner
London/ higher densities (but lower in some
suburbs
• Mixed use in inner London
• Decentralisation of employment activity
1951 County of London Plan
Peter Hall’s London 2000 (1963) and
London 2001 (1989)
The argument for metropolitan city region
planning
1969 Greater London
Development Plan (GLDP)
GLDP
• GLC under Desmond Plummer 1967-1973
and Reg Goodwin 1973-1977
• David Eversley as chief planner
• Assumed population falling
• Focus in Inner London Regeneration
• Density Limits
• Controversy over Motorway Box
• Plan adopted 1976 without box
1984 GLDP Amendments
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Ken Livingstone and George Nicholson
Borough Housing targets
70% public sector housing target
80% to be houses with gardens
Norm densities and higher density zones
Minimum standards
Community Areas Policy
Blocked by Govt as GLC abolished
The London Planning
Advisory Committee (LPAC)
1986-2000
LPAC Planners 1998
LPAC
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Cross-party
Advisory
Extensive research output
Sustainable Residential Quality
Embracement of growth/ world city
agenda
• 1994 Strategic Planning Advice
LPAC Strategic Framework
LPAC Regeneration Areas
Ken Livingstone
2004 London Plan
2004 London Plan
Boris Johnson’s 2011 Plan
City/regional planning for World City
London
‘London’
World city themes?
Plans
1943,44
Abercrombie
London centric/reconstruction, imperial, trade, industrial, limited
office, inner London
1951 County of
London Plan
London centric, imperial, trade, industrial, some office, inner
London
1976 GLDP
London centric, declining trade, industrial, increasing office, pan
London
1986 GLDP
Alterations
London centric but incipient global perspective: industry, offices
cf community, multi-cultural
1988/9 SERPLAN
Advice &
Guidance
Watershed balance between London centric and global
economy, limited multi-cultural, pro –office, anti-planning
1994/6 LPAC
Advice &
Guidance
Consolidating global context, managing post industrial change,
pro-office, pro-planning, multi-cultural
2004 and 2011
London Plans
Strongly global, clearly post industrial, pro-office, strongly multicultural, broader than land use
Themes: Spatial Levels
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City Corporation area
Inner London
Greater London
London Economic Area
Growth Areas
Greater South east
Themes: Status
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Independent
Gwynn
Loudon
Maslen
Bridgman
Cawston
Pepler
London
Society
MARS
RIBA
Royal
Academy
Advisory/commissioned
Christopher Wren
John Nash
Aston Webb
Unwin plans
Abercrombie (County of
London)
Abercrombie (Greater
London)
LPAC 1994 Strategic
Planning advice
SERPLAN Plan for
Greater SouthEast
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Statutory
County of London plan
(after 1947 circular)
Greater London
Development Plan 1976
(Note 1984 GLDP not
adopted)
RPS9: RPS3
London Plan (2004,
2008,2011)
Key themes: Chronology 1
• 17th,18th and 19th centuries: Highway
improvement based planning
• From mid 19th century: Public
health/housing improvement/clearance
based planning
• From 1930’s: Reducing overcrowding
/population dispersal; New Towns and
dispersal of employment ( Barlow and
Location of Offices bureau)
Key Themes: Chronology 2
• The green belt and containing urban sprawl. From
1930’s
• Controlling population concentration through density
controls. From 1940’s
• Protection of city fringe communities; neighbourhood
based planning. Early 1980’s
• Planning for economic and population growth – world
city focus. From 1990’s
• The Compact City and densification. From 2000
• Expansion of Central Activities Zone for world city
functions
Key Themes: Chronology 3
• Sustainable Development – transport
access and environmental
sustainability. The 2004 and 2008 plans
• Towards a more diverse economic
growth. The 2011 plan
• Limiting intensification; Suburban
preservation. The 2011 plan
• Weakening strategic direction. The
2011 plan ?