More useful Londons : the comparative development of alternative concepts of London

[摘要] London's development pattern graphically illustratesthe importance and problems of urban definition. Thepattern we observe is radically different depending onwhether one examines the data for administrative definitions of London or London defined on functionalboundaries. Even the answer to such an apparentlysimple question as to whether London was growing ordeclining varies according to the definition of Londontaken; the ambiguity as to whether London was decentralising,re-centralising or declining is equally striking. Even functional definitions of London and EUcities produce different pictures of the relative patterns of development, depending on whether thosefunctional boundaries are fixed to reflect spatial patterns of employment and commuting at a given dateor are updated lo current patterns. For reasons we canidentify, this makes much more difference to resultsin some cities than it does in others. Updating thefunctional boundaries of London, for example, makesmuch more difference to ils measured size than is thecase with Paris. London and Londoners are historicallyadapted lo long dislance commuting and strongly contrastingpatterns of residential segregation comparedto Continental European cities (especially Paris).Thesehave been re-inforced by land use planning which generatesa strong force for London's growth to leapfrogacross the South East of England spawning satellitecentres as it goes. Despite these measurement problems. however, the evidence allows one to concludethat there has been a sharp change in trends in Londonboth absolutely and relative to other major EU cities.Recently population has been growing and recentralisingand London's economic Performance improving.

[学科分类] 自然科学（综合）