London Flashcards
CBD
- Heart of world’s leading financial, business and maritime centre with a range of business orientated land uses including offices, retail and hotels.
- Canary Wharf, 4km eat of city has formed a 2nd CBD
36% of London = residential, 25% = green land
Inner city
- In the Industrial Revolution, factories and densely packed terraced housing were built close to central London
- Some inner suburbs and industrial areas are being replaced by modern developments as the land value is high
- 1km west of London’s West End = Kensington
- 1 km east = Hackney
Outer suburbs
- Starts to become rural-urban fringe
- Where city meets the countryside e.g. Loughton
- Almost every house has a garden- building density is lower
Cultural diversity
- More than 50% of the population is not White-British
- Proportions of ethnic minority differ between boroughs e.g. in Brent over 60% of people are not white British whereas in Havering, around 16% aren’t
Economic inequality
- London is home to the richest and poorest in the UK
- Income: average for Chelsea is £130k+ but Newham is £35k
- Low wages and few job opps in some areas mean more than 25% of people live in poverty
Social segregation
- Wealth: inner city areas like Notting Hill have become gentrified forcing poorer residents out of the area
- Ethnicity: proportions of ethnic minorities differ greatly between boroughs
Social issues
- Lack of affordable housing- gentrification in Notting Hill
- Proportions of ethnic minorities differ greatly between boroughs
- Hate crime based on race and religion is a problem e.g. in 12 months before July 2015 there were 800 anti-muslim incidents in the city
- Ethnocentric curriculum doesn’t reflect diversity of city
Social management:
- Affordable homes
- Sports led regeneration
- Language classes
- Tackling hate crime
- National curriculum
Social management: affordable housing
- London Mayor plans to build more affordable homes in London which could allow less affluent people to remain in more expensive areas reducing social segregation
- e.g. First Dibs for Londoners
Social management: sports led regeneration
Aimed to create 3000 affordable homes (only 1200 ended up affordable)
Social management: language classes
- 1 in 3 Londoners were born outside the UK, more than 300 languages currently spoken
- Mayor described the important of English support for social segregation
- ESOL programme aims to tackle economic inequality and social segregation
Social management: hate crime
Police are working to tackle hate crime by encouraging people to report it and offering support to victims
Social management: National curriculum
- Mayor of London called on government to ensure National Curriculum better reflects diversity of country as he announced plans to give young Londoners a more complete perspective on capital’s black history
Economic issues
Same as economic inequality
Economic management
- London weighting
- London Living Wage
- Sports led regeneration
Economic management: London weighting
- Allowance paid to certain civil servants, teachers, airline employees, PhD students, police and security officers in and around London
- Designed to help workers with cost of living in Greater London to encourage them to stay
Economic management: London Living Wage
- Increased to £9.75 an hour compared to £8.45 for rest of country
- Aim to increase income and social mobility in deprived areas
Economic management: sports led regeneration
- Aimed to create 3000 new jobs (6600 were created but this didn’t cover the 380 companies employing people who were forced to relocate)
Environmental issue: air pollution
- Traffic congestion: average London driver loses 101 hrs a year in traffic
- Air pollution: 99% of London had particle pollution levels above WHO’s recommended limits
- 9400 premature deaths due to air quality
- Estimated cost of poor air quality in London for the NHS is £1.4 bn-£3.7 bn per yr
Environmental issue: air pollution strategies to manage
- London congestion charge
- Short term managing congestion plan
- Clean air acts
Environmental issue: air pollution strategies to manage: London congestion charge
- Daily charge (£15) for those who drive into congestion zone
- Aim to discourage driving and encourage the use of public transport
Environmental issue: air pollution strategies to manage: short term managing congestion plan
To reduce road network disruption, improve bus reliability and reduce incident resolution time
Environmental issue: water pollution:
- London has a combined sewage system meaning rainwater and waste water flow together in same pipes- when full pipes don’t have capacity to hold rainwater as well and mix is discharged into Thames
Strategies to manage water pollution
- Environment agency has criticised Thames Water for not investing enough in researching alternatives to the Victorian system- spent £100 million on super sewer project - would have been better spent on SUDs
- Waterside park created from cleanup of polluted River Lea and canal network- 30,000 tonnes of rubbish cleared from canal and tow paths
Environmental issue: dereliction
deindustrialisation
Environmental strategies to manage dereliction
- London Docklands Development Corporation
- Development of brownfield sites
- Right to regenerate
Strategies to manage dereliction: LDDC
- Aimed to bring land and buildings back to life
- New houses built, open space created, old warehouses converted into new homes
Strategies to manage dereliction: development of brownfield sites
- The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park aimed to create the largest urban park in Europe from cleaning up 200ha of contaminated brownfield sites
- Included planting 4000 trees
- £1.8 bn fund allocated to turning brownfield sites into housing
Strategies to manage dereliction: right to regenerate
- Proposals by the government will make it easier for councils and other public organisations to convert vacant plots and derelict buildings into new homes or community spaces
