Monthly Archives: May 2013
Does London have an essential underlying dynamic?
Deyan Sudjic says of the city of London that it is a place without an apparent structure. It would appear that Dujic is suggesting that the city of London does not have an overarching narrative. But maybe no place has an essential narrative, but that places do have self-sustaining, self-propelling logics, that tend to reproduce […]
Traces of immigration and foreign investment in London
Deyan Sudjic talks about being able to see traces of immigration in London. In fact it is difficult to move around London without seeing the effects of immigration or foreign influence, both historically and contemporaneously. Historically, a trip to Spitalfields, just east of the city of London, demonstrates the presence of the Hugeuonots in the […]
Building London’s future into the shells of the past
London has a fine recent history of building the future into shells of the past. Highbury Stadium was converted into flats, maintaining a good deal of the structure of the façade of the stadium, into which the flats were built. The Bankside power station on the banks of the Thames was converted into Tate Modern […]
Mental maps of London
Deyan Sudjic claims that, “London is different for all its people. They make the most of the elements in it that have meaning for them and ignore the rest. A city is an a la carte menu. That is what makes it different from a village, which has little room for tolerance and difference’. Certain […]
What does it mean if a Londoner makes eye contact with you?
Londoners, mainly, it is said will not look you in the eye. Orin Hargraves in his book Culture Shock suggests that, ‘Because London compresses so many people into a small place, people who live there very often build a wall of sorts around themselves for protection’ which means people do not routinely make eye contact […]
The day a terrible hurricane hit London
In November 1091 a hurricane was said to have hit London, with devastating effect. According to John Noorthouck in his book A New History of London, written in 1773, the hurricane blew down above 600 houses in London, several churches, and even damaged the Tower of London. Noorthouck added, “The most surprizing event was, its taking […]
How did Bow get its name from a Norman bridge?
Bow, East London, got its name from a Norman bridge. According to John Noorthouck in his book A New History of London, written in 1773, in 1086, in the reign of William the Conqueror, the parish church of St. Mary in Cheapside, was built. It was the first church built with stone arches. For this reason […]
Ravish London 