London (England)

I

Introduction

London (England), city, capital of the United Kingdom. It is situated in south-eastern England at the head of the River Thames estuary. Settled by the Romans as an important shipping point for crops and minerals, it gradually developed into the wealthy capital of a thriving industrial and agricultural nation. The expansion in the 19th century of the British Empire increased London’s influence still further. Since World War II the city’s prominence on the international stage has diminished, but it remains a flourishing financial centre and home to one of the world’s most important stock exchanges. In addition, it is the foremost tourist destination in Britain, a centre of academic excellence, and one of the cultural capitals of the world—well deserving of the observation by Samuel Johnson that: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”.

The term “City of London”, or “the City”, is applied only to a small area known as the Square Mile (2.59 sq km/1 sq mi) that was the original settlement (ancient Londinium) and is now part of the financial and business district of the metropolis. The City of London and 32 surrounding boroughs constitute the Greater London metropolitan area, which covers some 1,580 sq km (620 sq mi). The 13 inner London boroughs are Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, and the City of Westminster. The 19 outer boroughs are Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, and Waltham Forest.

II

Government and Administration

London is the seat of central government in Britain. The Houses of Parliament—the House of Commons (the lower house) and the House of Lords (the upper house)—are located at Westminster. Downing Street (traditionally the official residence of the Prime Minister at No 10, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at No 11), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Treasury, and the Ministry of Defence are concentrated around Whitehall. Various other government departments and public bodies are also sited in central London. Within the Government, the Minister for London (part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) has responsibility for the capital. The administrative structure of the legal system, and the central offices of the main political parties, are also based in London.

Over 70 (out of 646) Members of Parliament are returned to Westminster from constituencies in the Greater London metropolitan area, and the capital returns 10 of England’s 71 representatives to the European Parliament. Prior to the late 1880s, when the London County Council (LCC) was established, the four counties of Essex, Kent, Middlesex, and Surrey administered the area, together with the ancient City of London and many smaller local authorities. In 1965 Greater London was created under the jurisdiction of the Greater London Council. This council was abolished in 1986, and today each inner and outer borough and the City of London itself has its own governing council. The borough councils consist of councillors elected every four years, who in turn annually elect their presiding official. Councils are responsible for the provision of most local services including education, housing, social services, local planning, roads, refuse collection, recreation, and culture. They do not control the police (except in the case of the City of London), fire service, or public transport. London’s Metropolitan Police Service is the responsibility of the Home Secretary (a senior government minister). London Transport is a statutory corporation whose remit is to provide transport for the capital.

On May 7, 1998, Londoners voted “yes” in a referendum for a directly elected mayor and a Greater London assembly. After much controversy all candidates for the London mayoralty were declared in March 2000. The election was held in May, and was won by the independent candidate Ken Livingstone. Livingstone, a former leader of the Greater London Council and a Labour Party MP, was barred from the Party after standing in the election against the official Labour Party nominee Frank Dobson. City Hall—a futuristic, glass, ten-storey building near Tower Bridge—the newly built headquarters of the Greater London Authority, was officially opened in July 2002.

The City of London, the ancient heart of the city, has only about 7,200 residents (although well over 300,000 people work there each day). It is governed by the Corporation of the City of London. Among local authorities, the Corporation is unique; it is the oldest in the country and operates on a non-party-political basis. The ruling body is the Court of Common Council, and this consists of the Lord Mayor, 24 aldermen, and 130 common councilmen. The Lord Mayor and two sheriffs are nominated annually by the City guilds (livery companies representing trades and professions and dating back to medieval times) and elected by the Court of Aldermen. Aldermen and councilmen are elected by businesses in the City’s 25 wards. The Corporation fulfils the same functions as the borough councils but has, for historical reasons, retained some other powers: it is responsible for the City of London Police; is the health authority for the Port of London; is responsible for health control of animal imports throughout Greater London (including Heathrow Airport); and is responsible for the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey).

III

Population Patterns and Trends

Greater London has a population of 7,172,036 (2001)—which represents about 12 per cent of Britain’s overall population—with two thirds resident in outer London. Although the population is no longer as large as in mid-century (peaking at about 8,346,000 in the 1951 census), it has recently been increasing, rising at an average of 20,000 per year since 1984. London’s population is heavily concentrated (at about 4,539 people per sq km/11,568 per sq mi) relative to other metropolitan areas in the country.

The arrival of immigrants has contributed considerably to the variations in population figures, and the capital is the most ethnically diverse region in the United Kingdom. Ethnic minority communities account for more than half of the population in the boroughs of Brent and Newham, according to the 2001 Census.

IV

The Urban Landscape

London straddles the River Thames, 80 km (50 mi) upriver from its mouth at the Nore, where the English Channel joins the North Sea. Most of London, including its central districts and the majority of its famous landmarks, lies to the north of the river. The original settlement that gave London its name was the Roman fort of Londinium, founded in the first century ad. The City of London is on the site where this stood, and the description of the Roman town as “a busy emporium for trade and traders” by the Roman historian Tacitus seems equally apt today. St Paul’s Cathedral stands on the western edge of the City, and the Tower of London, the Norman fortress built by William the Conqueror to defend his new lands late in the 11th century (listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site), lies to the south-east. It is the current repository of the Crown Jewels. Spanning the river to Southwark (west of Tower Bridge) is London Bridge, a modern replacement of the only bridge over the Thames in London until the 18th century. (See also London’s Bridges.)

To the east and north-east of the City are the predominantly working-class districts of the East End, home to successive waves of immigrants from Ireland, continental Europe, and the former British Empire. Lively and industrious, the East End continues to have many thriving small businesses. West of the City lie the ancient Inns of Court (Lincoln’s Inn, Middle Temple, Inner Temple, and Gray’s Inn), the legal district occupied by barristers and firms of solicitors; and Fleet Street, once the home of Britain’s national press (which has now relocated to other parts of the capital). Further to the north-west is Bloomsbury, the haunt in the 1920s of a renowned group of literary intellectuals (the Bloomsbury Group), thanks to its proximity to London University and the British Museum.

The West End is a large area of central London to the west of the City, containing most of the best-known theatres and shopping districts. To the south, following the river as it takes a southward bend, is the administrative core of London and the centre of government: Whitehall, the Houses of Parliament (officially called the Palace of Westminster), St James’s Palace (including Clarence House, the London home of the Prince of Wales), and Buckingham Palace (the London residence of Queen Elizabeth II). The West End also contains Hyde Park, London’s largest open space, which leads west to the districts of Knightsbridge and Kensington, both fashionable residential areas with such attractions as Harrods department store, the Royal Albert Hall, and the South Kensington museums. South of the river, upstream from the Houses of Parliament, lies Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury; nearby is the South Bank Centre, the arts and theatre complex. Beyond lie other residential districts with historical associations, such as Dulwich, Clapham, Wimbledon (one of London’s earliest settlements), and Greenwich (home of the Royal Naval College, the restored Cutty Sark tea clipper, and the Prime Meridian at the Old Royal Observatory). To the north of the peninsula lies the O2 complex, an exhibition space and the largest dome in the world. It first opened as the “Millennium Dome” from December 31, 1999, until the end of 2000.

East and south-east London have seen massive inner-city regeneration since the 1980s. The area known as Docklands comprises (on the north bank of the Thames) the districts of Wapping and Poplar, the Isle of Dogs, the Royal Docks, and (to the south of the Thames) Surrey Docks. The areas closest to the city have been re-zoned for housing and commercial development. A Conservative government initiative in the 1980s to regenerate the area led to some business relocation at sites such as Canary Wharf, the construction of Britain’s tallest building, Canada Tower (also known as Canary Wharf Tower), and the redevelopment of riverside warehouses as luxury apartments. Further long-term proposals for regeneration of the East End to accommodate London’s rapidly expanding population were outlined in the London Plan, a spatial development strategy for the city published by the Mayor of London in 2004. The plan estimated that the population of the city would reach 8.1 million by 2016, and would continue to rise thereafter. Central to the proposals for the regeneration of the East End of London was London’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012. Stratford, in the London Borough of Newham, was proposed as the site for the construction of the Olympic Park, with new, purpose-built stadiums and sporting facilities and an Olympic village with accommodation for all participating athletes and officials. The International Olympic Committee announced that the city’s bid had been successful in July 2005, enabling the large-scale redevelopment of the area and the associated overhaul of the public transport infrastructure in the region to begin.