London regeneration: history, politics and architecture

This course provides a summary overview of the reconstruction of London after World War Two, its subsequent decline and recent renaissance, including:

• The 1943 Abercrombie Plan for the rebuilding of London

• How developments after 1945 were influenced by, and departed from, the Abercrombie Plan, How grandiose plans for a "motorway Box" and the redevelopment of Whitehall and Covent Garden were stopped by an active conservation movement from the 1970s onwards

• The development of large council housing estates in both inner London and the suburbs, much Victorian housing was swept away and replaced with which mostly failed to stand the test of time.

• How London was hit by the growth of the New Towns and government policies to relocate new office and housing development out of London

• The role of the GLC, why its housing, planning and transport policies (under both Labour and Conservative control) mostly failed to revitalise London, and why it was abolished

• How new developments in the London Docklands, the deregulation of the City of London, and booming property prices started to reverse London's decline in the 1980s and 1990s

• The creation of the Mayoral system in 2000 and how two high-profile Mayors (Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson) helped attract the Olympic Games to London in 2012, fought for new infrastructure, and strongly encouraged new development.

The course will then focus on three case studies: Woolwich, Victoria and Stratford.