Roman London was first established in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius. It was rebuilt after being burned down by Boudicca in AD 60. The city expanded within defensive walls in the 2nd century AD. Throughout the medieval period and after the Great Fire of 1666, various plans were proposed to rebuild and improve London, including establishing building codes and minimum road widths. In the 18th-19th centuries, plans focused on highway improvements and public health. The 20th century saw plans for reducing overcrowding through population dispersal and new towns. More recent plans in the 2000s emphasized growth, densification and establishing London as a global city, though suburban intensification remains a challenge.

1. SATURDAY MORNING CITY PLANNING SCHOOL
OSTORIUS SCAPULA TO SADIQ KHAN
DUNCAN BOWIE
LONDON HISTORY -
2000 YEARS OF LONDON PLANS
@londonsoc

2. Roman London
• No pre Roman settlement in London area.
• Raid by Julius Caesar 54BC ;
• Invasion by Emperor Claudius AD43
• AD 50 Settlement of London under Publius Ostorius Scapula
(second Governor of Roman Britain under Emperor Augustus)
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)

3. Roman London

4. Roman London and its first
Governor

5. Medieval London

6. 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 !

7. London before the Great Fire

9. Restoration planners: Wren,
Hooke, Evelyn and Newcourt

11. John Evelyn’s Plan

12. Christopher Wren’s Plan

13. Robert Hooke’s plan ?

14. Richard Newcourt’s Plan

15. 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

16. London Squares in 18th century

17. London Development to 1785

18. John Gwynn: London and
Westminster Improved 1776

19. Plans for Street Improvements
• John Nash. Regents Park, Regent Street,
Haymarket, Carlton House Terrace (1811-1833 )
• Sydney Smirke. Suggestions for the Architectural
Improvement of the Western Part of London (1834)
• Thomas Maslen. Suggestions for the Improvement of
Our Towns and Houses (1843)
• Henry Bridgman. Street Re-alignment and Re-
construction 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)

20. John Nash and Regency London

21. John Claudius Loudon 1829

22. Thomas Cubitt
• Builder of Bloomsbury, Belgravia and Pimlico
• Suggestions for improving the state of the River
Thames and the Drainage of London (1843)
• Proposed removal of vitriol, chemical and
gasworks from central London
• Proposed extension of Thames embankment to
Chelsea and Battersea and Battersea Park
(Victoria Park in East London promoted by Joseph
Hume MP)
• Layout for Great exhibition in Kensington (1851)

23. Paxton’s Great Victorian Way 1855

25. Metropolitan Board of Works 1855-
1889 and Sir Joseph Bazalgette

27. 1889 London County Council
Lord Rosebery, John Williams Benn and
John Burns

28. Lord Meath’s Green Girdle (1901)

29. Paul Waterhouse: Imaginary Plan for London
(1907)

30. Waterhouse plan for central London
road network

31. Pepler’s Ringway (1910)

32. London Society Development Plan
for Greater London (1913)

33. Aston Webb’s plan for Imperial
London – 1901 -1910

34. London County Council : Kingsway
redevelopment 1905 and 1920-29

35. Octavia Hill and Hampstead
Garden Suburb from 1909

36. Raymond Unwin 1929 and 1933

37. Interwar LCC Housing Estates

38. The Independent Plans
• The Bressey/Lutyens regional road plan of 1937
• 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)
• Trystan Edwards. Hundred New Towns Association
plan (1943)
• Lindy and Lewis in Architecture Journal (1944)
• Harold Bailey in The Builder (1944)

39. Charles Bressey and Edwin Lutyens

40. Bressey and Lutyens Plan

41. Royal Academy Plan 1942

42. Royal Academy Plan

43. The MARS plan 1942

45. The RIBA Plan 1943

46. The RIBA Plan

47. RIBA Plan: Transport proposals

48. The RIBA plan orbital routes

49. RIBA plan

50. RIBA: Airport proposal

51. Tubbs Parks System Plan 1942

52. Trystan Edwards. Hundred New Towns Association 1943

53. Lindy and Lewis 1944)

54. Harold Bailey 1944

55. 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

57. Abercrombie County of London
Plan 1943

58. 1943 Abercrombie: Working London

59. 1943 Abercrombie:
Neighbourhood Functions

60. 1943 Abercrombie: Roads

61. Abercrombie Ringway

62. 1943 Abercrombie: Open Space

63. 1943 Abercrombie: Zoning

64. 1943 Redevelopment of
Bermondsey

65. 1943 Redevelopment of Stepney

66. Abercrombie: Greater London
Plan: 1944

67. 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

69. The Post-war New Town Programme

70. 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

71. 1951 County of London Plan

72. The London Motorway Box

73. Ringway 2

74. Ringway 3

75. Ringway 4

76. North and south circulars

77. The current motorway network

78. Peter Hall’s London 2000 (1963) and
London 2001 (1989)
The argument for metropolitan city region
planning

79. 1969 Greater London Development
Plan (GLDP)

80. 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

81. 1984 GLDP Amendments
• 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

82. The London Planning Advisory
Committee (LPAC) 1986-2000

83. LPAC Planners 1998

84. LPAC
• Cross-party
• Advisory
• Extensive research output
• Sustainable Residential Quality
• Embracement of growth/ world city agenda
• 1994 Strategic Planning Advice

85. LPAC Strategic Framework

86. LPAC Regeneration Areas

89. Ken Livingstone

90. 2004 London Plan

91. 2004 London Plan

92. Boris Johnson’s 2011 Plan

93. The 2015 London Plan

95. City/regional planning for World City London
‘London’ Plans World city themes?
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,,2008, 2011 and 2015
London Plans
Strongly global, clearly post industrial, pro-office, broader than land use

96. Themes: Spatial Levels
• City Corporation area
• Inner London
• Greater London
• London Economic Area
• Growth Areas
• Greater Southeast/ Metropolitan Region

97. Themes: Status
• Independent
Gwynn
Loudon
Maslen
Bridgman
Cawston
Pepler
London
Society
MARS
RIBA
Royal
Academy
• Statutory
County of London plan
(after 1947 circular)
Greater London
Development Plan 1976
(Note 1984 GLDP not
adopted)
RPS9: RPS3
London Plan (2004,
2008,2011,2015)
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

98. 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)

99. 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

100. 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
• The 2011 and 2015 Plans Hyperdensity in
central area and Docklands. Town centre
intensification. Less strategic direction ?

101. Future development options ?
• The Challenges of growth: Towards the 2018 London
Plan
• The draft 2050 Infrastructure Plan
• Meeting the challenges of population growth and global
city role
• Is the compact city approach still viable ?
• Extending the central activities zone
• High density housing in suburban centres
• Dispersal and a new programme of garden cities
• Suburban intensification
• Urban extensions into the Green Belt
• Potential for a return to metropolitan region integrated
planning ?

102. ALAN POWERS
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
@londonsoc