SEE THE VIDEOMichael HEBBERT, historian, doctor in geography, professor, Bartlett School of Planning, University College London
Greater London through the prism of the ecological transition
London is a valuable case study of the interplay between metropolitan management and environmental performance. Until World War II, it was known for its unlimited, polycentric and low density structure. After the war, a green zone was created along with a regulatory framework for land use. In 1963, a reform of local governance established a metropolitan government, the Greater London Council, which enforced a continuous built-up area within a ring of open landscapes. This extended municipality was abolished by Margaret Thatcher in 1986, but reestablished in 2000 through a Greater London Mayor and Assembly. Today, it constitutes the commonly accepted definition of London and the green belt plays a limiting role on an institutional and territorial level.
Academic evaluations of the impact of a sustainable policy to protect the countryside around metropolitan areas have emphasised the negative consequences in terms of land availability and cost. Here is a more positive assessment of how this territory contributes to the sustainable development of South-West England. Three aspects will be put into perspective:
a) the recovery of London after a phase of economic and demographic decline, together with the successful regeneration of its vast brownfield sites;
b) the successful transformation of the metropolis which has managed to free itself from its dependence on the automobile in favour of alternative modes of transport, with an ever-increasing use of train, bus and tram, as well as a growing presence of bicycles;
c) the role of the green belt as a premise for the ecological management of London’s landscaping and its biodiversity.
Michael Hebbert was Professor in Urban Planning at Bartlett School, University College London, Professor emeritus at the University of Manchester and editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Planning Perspectives. He holds a degree in modern history from the University of Oxford and a doctorate in geography from the University of Reading, where he studied with Professor Peter Hall. He taught at the London School of Economics from 1979 to 1994, where he became Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Planning. As secretary of the Group for Greater London, he initiated research in response to the abolition of the Greater London Council by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.
“The valley of the River Lee looking south towards London, with Broxbourne Park in the foreground.”
In: Patrick Abercrombie, The Greater London Plan 1944, HMSO, 1945.