Parts of London faced being knocked down and swept away in 2012. Archaeologists pounced on rare artefacts of London’s remote history before other fragments were buried once again beneath new towers, streets and infrastructure.

  The pace and scale of London’s transformation varied – glacial, gradual, gargantuan and rapid. Elements of ‘new London’ – like the Shard, Olympic Park and south London’s Strata tower impacted dramatically on people living in London’s traditional neighbourhoods.

   Change excited those who gained but pained those losing their homes and businesses. Many London families, who had lived in the city over generations, faced being squeezed out of their traditional neighbourhoods by central London’s expanding ‘prime property market’.

   Londoners would need to muster their traditional spirit to deal with many challenges over the next decade.

   Postscript: Some new developments improved London’s streets and public spaces but others rendered spaces uniformly dull. The creep of privatised spaces, monitored by ubiquitous security guards and CCTV, also denied people access and strangled spontaneous street life (below). (STREETS)

© Paul Coleman LONDON INTELLIGENCE 2012