London Docklands Research Articles

The Impact of Urban Regeneration and Environmental Improvements on Well-Being

Urban areas worldwide are grappling with significant challenges, including rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and socio-economic disparities. In response, urban regeneration has emerged as a vital strategy aimed at revitalizing declining neighborhoods and enhancing residents' quality of life. This paper investigates the complex relationship between urban regeneration, environmental improvements, and residents' well-being, which encompasses physical health, mental health, social connections, and overall life satisfaction. By synthesizing existing literature, the paper highlights how initiatives such as the creation of green spaces and sustainable urban design positively influence residents' well-being. Furthermore, it explores case studies, including the High Line in New York City and the London Docklands, illustrating the benefits of integrating environmental considerations into regeneration efforts. The findings reveal that while urban regeneration projects can lead to significant improvements in well-being, challenges such as gentrification and equitable access must be addressed. The paper concludes by identifying gaps in the current literature and suggesting areas for future research, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of the interplay between urban regeneration, environmental enhancements, and well-being.

Driven pile foundation reuse in East London, UK

Multiple phases of redevelopment of the London Docklands, UK, have resulted in the need to replace existing structures with new, often larger, structures. This paper presents the case history of a 1980s low-rise office building (three to four storeys) being replaced by a medium-rise (five storeys + roof terrace) recreational building structure. The 1980s building was founded on driven closed-ended steel tube piles located within one of London’s historic docks. Subsequent to the 1980s building construction, London Underground (LU) tunnels were constructed below the dock in the late 1990s in close proximity to the structure. Piling in the dock adjacent to the LU tunnels resulted in restrictions to pile construction methodology. The new structure reused the driven piles in the dock and added new onshore bored piles to accommodate a larger building footprint landwards. The pile reuse justification used the original preliminary pile load test and driving records along with current design codes. The 1980s allowable working loads stated on the design drawing were lower than that required to support the new building, thereby requiring reinterpretation of preliminary pile load test results. The pile reuse assessment justified an increase in pile working load from 1050 to 1760 kN.

Renewal of Old Industrial Areas in the Context of Neoliberalization and Globalization: Examples of London Docklands and Hamburg Hafencity

20.yy’ın sonlarına doğru kent merkezleri hizmet sektörünün gözde noktalarına dönmüş, ağır sanayi ise üretim sisteminin değişimine, kentlerde yaşanan çevresel problemlere ve işçi maaşlarının yüksekliğine bağlı olarak kent merkezlerinden taşınmıştır. Ortaya çıkan eski sanayi alanlarının nasıl yenileneceği ise yeni bir uğraş konusu olmuştur. 1980’lerde neoliberal ekonomik düzenle, postfordist üretim tarzıyla ve yeni teknolojilerle büyüyen küreselleşme, küresel kentleri yaratmıştır. Kentsel yenileme ise bu yeni küresel kent yaklaşımıyla paralel bir minvale girmiştir. Bu çalışmanın amacı da 1970’lere kadar ticarete kattıkları güçle kilit yerler olan sanayi alanlarının âtıl hale gelmesine etken olan faktörleri ve söz konusu bu sanayi alanlarında gerçekleştirilen yenileme projelerindeki politikaları ortaya koymaktır. Çalışmada öncelikle kentsel yenilemenin ne olduğu ve 1980 öncesine kadarki gelişim süreci açıklanmıştır. Daha sonrasında ise kentsel yenilemeyi 1980’lerden sonra faklı bir yöne eviren, neoliberalleşme ve küreselleşme paradigmalarıyla sanayi alanları için prestij projeleri haline getiren sürecin perde arkası açıklanmıştır. Docklands ve Hafencity alanları sanayi desantralizasyonu sonucu eski misyonunu kaybetmiş iki bölge olarak 1970 gelişmelerinin ilk tesir ettiği yerlerden biri olan Avrupa Kıtasında yer almaları, küresel ve metropoliten kentler olmaları, çalışma için incelemeye tabi tutulmak adına yeterli bir literatüre sahip olmaları sebebiyle seçilmiştir. Özellikle Londra Docklands’ın eski liman-sanayi yenilemelerinde öncülerden biri olarak kabul edilmesi seçilmesi için önemli bir kriter olmuştur. Hafencity Projesi ise dünyanın en büyük imar alanı sayılan Hamburg’da yer alması açısından önemli bir projedir.

Stories from London's Docklands: Heritage Encounters, Deindustrialization, and the End of Empire

AbstractThis article analyzes the activism of Eastside Community Heritage in London's Docklands, circa 1997 to 2003, following its establishment by community activists concerned by the British National Party's electoral success in the postindustrial area. Eastside attributed local racism to deindustrialization and unaccountable, exclusionary redevelopment. Aiming to recenter solidarity against economic injustice—thereby countering racism—and to challenge redevelopers’ neglect, the group published booklets celebrating the area's working-class past. But the project's archived oral histories show that residents remembered an area forged by different ideals. Their nostalgia was for participation in empire through the docks as much as for an idealized working-class community. Residents rarely distinguished between the interconnected losses of imperial purpose and social cohesion. I frame these tensions as a heritage encounters, making three key arguments. First, memories of youth in the imperial metropole informed residents’ perceptions of the late twentieth-century nation, despite recent scholarly efforts to separate them temporally and conceptually. Second, contrary to their predominance within histories of postwar class identity, deindustrialization and urban change were popularly understood within a larger, postimperial narrative of local and national decline. Finally, a close reading of this project offers a vivid case study into the fragility of British multiculturalism in the 1990s and 2000s.

Chatoyer’s Punch Ladle: A Museum Artifact that Speaks to the Hidden History of the Garifuna, An African-Caribbean People

ABSTRACT This paper contextualizes the artifact “Punch Ladle, 1773” on display in the “London, Sugar & Slavery” exhibition at Museum of London Docklands (UK). A placard identifies the ladle as once belonging to “Chatoyer, Chief of the Caribs” and as on loan by the West India Committee. Through this artifact, the largely forgotten story of Chatoyer and the so-called Black Caribs (Garifuna) is highlighted, while complexities of the artifact’s provenance are analyzed through an object biography approach. The paper also considers the ethical and curatorial implications of the current non-repatriation of the artifact and its present location within the “Slave Owner” part of the exhibition. Finally, by arguing for the artifact’s global significance through its association with Chatoyer, a historic African-Caribbean figure of colonial resistance, this article contributes to current museum decolonization debates.

Decolonising the Curatorial Process

Orson Nava’s Decolonising the Curatorial Process is a forty-minute documentary which invites us to a participate in a special, temporal and intellectual journey, engaging with dialogical practice and reflection on what decolonising art institutions and spaces entails. From the Museum of London Docklands in London, to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, and Cape Peninsula University, the film becomes a meeting point for researchers and practitioners committed to radically transforming museums and higher education institutions, as well as the collaboration between these to. Beyond this insightful call to dismantle long-established Eurocentric curatorial practice, Nava’s film and research statement evidence the dialogical and inter-disciplinary methodologies that participate in what is still an ongoing struggle. Such a process is enhanced by the integration of voices of two peer reviewers, who celebrate the visibility to the decolonial thinking process led by researchers of African heritage.

Thermo-kinetic explosions: Safety first or safety last?

Gas and vapor explosions have been involved in industrial accidents since the beginnings of industry. A century ago, at 11:55 am on Friday September 24, 1920, the petroleum barge Warwick exploded in London's docklands and seven men were killed. Understanding what happened when it blew up as it was being refurbished, and how to prevent similar explosions, involves fluid mechanics and thermodynamics plus chemistry. I recount the 1920 accident as an example, together with the history of thermo-kinetic explosions prior to 1920 and up to the present day, and I review the history and the actual state of the science of explosion and the roles of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and chemistry in that science. The science of explosions has been aware of its societal implications from the beginning, but, despite advances in health and safety over the past century, is there still work to do?

Funerary Artefacts, Cemetery Souvenirs and Final Resting Places

This photo essay discusses artworks that explore the commemorative dimensions of death through socially-engaged artistic processes, and the use of Oasis® floral foam—an ephemeral material that is integral to making flower arrangements that venerate the cycles of life and the celebratory milestones between birth and death. It examines the material’s uncanny corporeal associations when it is formed into vessels, and the ways in which the foam may be seen to transform meaning into materiality. It reflects on how the exhibition of cremated remains of Roman Londoners with associated funerary vessels, titled Roman Dead, at the Museum of London Docklands, informed a series of miniature foam gravestones adorned with custom-designed vessels created on site at East London’s Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, and a series of art workshops in hospice settings with palliative care staff, which were designed to promote meaningful reflection and healthy discussion about death and dying.

‘They Are Murderers’: The English Catholic Church and Provisional IRA Attacks on London

This article examines the English and Welsh Catholic Church's reaction to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks on London during the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’. English Catholic bishops vociferously condemned these attacks yet regularly faced criticism for their perceived inaction. Letters published in secular and religious newspapers, and also sent directly to English Catholic bishops, reveal a dismayed public who called for religious retribution in the form of excommunication. I argue IRA attacks on English soil fell into a ‘grey area’ of Church condemnation: a Catholic bishop would not comment on events outside his own nation. No Irish Catholic bishop had excommunicated an IRA member, so for an English bishop to do so would have been setting a precedent. However, the IRA’s shift to a bombing campaign in England had allowed English bishops to comment on the conflict in Northern Ireland. Subsequently, statements and actions by English bishops would directly impact on how Irish bishops could mediate the conflict in Northern Ireland. Provisional IRA attacks on London specifically garnered international press attention and greater focus on the reactions of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, amplifying the English Catholic Church’s response more broadly. This article highlights the evolving relationship between Irish and English bishops, from one of mutual anger to one of mutual understanding, through an examination of three attacks: the Old Bailey bombing (1973); the Harrods Bombing (1983); and the London Docklands Bombing (1996). Drawing on seldom discussed archival material, religious papers, and correspondence, this article elucidates the entangled relationship between English and Irish Churches, suggesting that such a complicated relationship, at times, hindered the Irish Catholic Church’s ability to mediate the conflict and aide the peace process.

Recalling Milton Keynes: visions of suburbia

In 1972, David Prichard joined Richard MacCormac and Peter Jamieson to form the architectural practice of MacCormac Jamieson Prichard [1]. He has contributed to the design and delivery of residential masterplans and developments across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including in the New Towns of Milton Keynes, Cwmbrân, Warrington, Basildon and the London Docklands, and leading the Ballymun Regeneration Masterplan.

Our land: creative approaches to the redevelopment of London’s Docklands

ABSTRACTLarge-scale re-development of post-industrial sites can easily railroad over the needs or wishes of its existing inhabitants, or at best involve them in peripheral consultation. However, when a community is highly organised and also collaborates with others to gather expertise and develop effective means of communication, it has the ability to re-envision a future that can meet the needs of all concerned. In the 1980s The Docklands Community Poster Project engaged with a cluster of waterfront communities, which used the arts to influence the regeneration of the London Docklands. Close collaboration between local people, activists and artists led to a range of interventions implemented over a ten year period that included a series of large-scale photo-murals, travelling exhibitions, initiatives and events such as the People’s Armadas to Parliament and the People’s Plan for the Royal Docks. The article makes an argument for how and why art can be an effective tool in social transformation and highlights its role in documenting and making visible the intangible cultural heritage of the communities it serves.

Londoners enticed and engrossed

The Crossrail Project is building railways through London between Essex and Kent in the east and Acton in the west: the Elizabeth Line. In anticipation of remains at the sites of new stations and ancillary structures, more than 200 archaeologists investigated the route between 2009 and 2016. Now London's Docklands Museum is showing about 500 of the many thousands of finds in ‘Tunnel’. At the same time, the exhibition describes how archaeological research and recording works.

The Limehouse Link: the architectural and cultural history of a monumental road tunnel in London's Docklands

In the Docklands area of London lies the ‘Limehouse Link’, a dual-bore road tunnel used by around 80,000 cars each day. A monumental and highly expensive piece of construction, the Limehouse Link has nonetheless received almost no attention from architectural historians or others concerned with the history of construction, engineering or urban development.This article provides an introduction to the Limehouse Link, explaining some of the fundamental characteristics of its construction and position in London's urban landscape. More importantly, the article then considers how one might understand an everyday yet monumental construction such as this: a tunnel without obvious aesthetic form, design intent or symbolic meaning, but which nonetheless has an undeniable presence in the city. The Limehouse Link is therefore interpreted in terms of the car driver's immersive experience of the tunnel, more active constructions of this experience through sensory qualities of sound, representations of the tunnel in different media and art, ways of knowing the history of Limehouse, and, in particular, as a kind of aesthetic experience. The article concludes that driving through the Limehouse Link is to engage in a different way of knowing the postmodern city.

From planning to opportunism? Re-examining the creation of the London Docklands Development Corporation

East London's former docklands have been at the centre of planning and regeneration debates for the past four decades. The setting up of the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) has been variously interpreted as ‘3-D Thatcherism’ in action, a symbol of the death of comprehensive planning and the replacement of a corporatist, Keynesian era of urban policy with a more neoliberal approach. Moving away from simplistic and straightforward interpretations of the processes happening at this time, this article uses new archival and interview material to re-examine the setting up of the LDDC and its early years, revealing a more complex and contradictory picture than existing accounts suggest. It focuses on three themes: changing forms of state intervention; the uncertain ‘break’ in the post-war consensus as evidenced by the changes in approaches to the regeneration of Docklands; and the unintended, disordered process of actual policy change. As such we aim to reveal how shifting visions, modes of governance and practices could compete and co-exist in the midst of seemingly coherent ‘eras’, as Docklands as a place and as an approach to regeneration was constantly made and re-made – a process that continues to this day.

Plurality in the Capital: The Christian Responses to London’s Religious Minorities since 1800

On a late spring day in 1856 Prince Albert carried out one of the less routine royal engagements of the Victorian era, by laying the foundation stone of what was to become ‘The Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders’, located at Limehouse in the London docklands. The deputation receiving the prince was headed by the earl of Chichester, who was the First Church Estates Commissioner and president of the Church Missionary Society, and included Thomas Carr, formerly bishop of Bombay, Maharajah Duleep Singh, a Sikh convert to Christianity and a favourite of Queen Victoria, and William Henry Sykes, MP and chairman of the East India Company.

Recent Metropolitan Transformations and Territorial Projects: The North Coast of Buenos Aires

Over the last twenty years a wide range of interventions in the urban waterfronts have been designed and built. Beyond the paradigmatic interventions of Battery Park and the London Docklands, there have been other operations of equal impact in the Southern hemisphere, including Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires or the coast of river Parana in Rosario, just to name a few of them. These projects have been examined by different disciplines, from environmental, architectural, social and political studies. Within this context, this paper aims to develop a territorial reading of the coast of the River de la Plata and River Lujan, in the north coast of Buenos Aires, to analyze the patterns behind its production. It is considered that the projects and coastal transformation and the conflicts that arise around them, can be understood as a laboratory for thinking about the recent metropolitan transformations, and their possible logic of intervention.

영국 런던 도클랜드(Docklands) 재개발 사업 : 대처주의 정책의 또 다른 실패?

사실상 뉴라이트 프로그램(대처주의)은 일견 상반되어 보이는 이데올로기적 전통들 간의 결합이다. 즉 뉴라이트는 경제적 자유주의와 국가 또는 사회적 권위주의를 혼합시키려고 한다. 자유시장을 재창출하려는 시도는 불가피하게 매우 간섭적인 국가를 만드는 결과를 초래하였다. 뉴라이트가 국가의 경계선을 후퇴시키려는 목적으로 영국인들의 삶 구석구석에 시장의 힘을 밀어 넣으면서 국가는 더욱 강화되어 갔다. 그 결과 영국인들의 삶에서 방대한 변화가 발생하였고 이는 뉴라이트가 그리거나 추구하던 사회와는 전혀 다른 사회였다. 통화주의나 민영화, 재산소유 민주주의나 경제적 급성장 등과 같은 뉴라이트 프로그램들은 잠재적으로 실패한 것으로 평가받아 왔다.<BR> 런던 도클랜드 재개발계획 또한 이러한 거대계획 실패의 또 다른 사례가 되었다. 1979년 이래로 뉴라이트 정부는 런던 도클랜드 구역을 도시재개발의 차원에서 국가적 중요성을 지닌 곳으로 봐왔다. 정부는 ‘신자유주의’ 자유 시장철학에 굳건히 기댄 뉴라이트 경제정책들과 함께 런던 도클랜드 개발공사(LDDC)를 설립하고 지정된 구역을 개조하기 위해 힘을 실어줬다. 그러나 이 개발에 대해서 세 가지 비판 지점을 거론하는 것이 이치에 맞는 듯이 보인다. 첫째는 지역 민주주의와 이해들의 상실이고 둘째는 투기적인 과잉생산의 문제이며 세 번째 지점은 가능한 기술적 쇠퇴에 관련된다.

Enterprise Zones/ Do they create or transfer value?

This paper considers whether any lessons have been learnt from the Enterprise Zones (EZs) of the 1980s and whether providing economic stimuli creates, distorts or simply transfers value. Key issues include/—How do the 2011 EZs differ from their 1980s predecessors?—Land value as a residual, determined by the economic activity that can take place on a plot of land; therefore bestowing economic advantages selectively will distort land values.—Enterprise Zones will undoubtedly cause the displacement of existing jobs to more economically marginal areas.—Previous attempts at creating areas which enjoy economic advantages include Regional Development Agencies and Freeports; this paper examines what lessons, if any, can be learned from these that could be applied to EZs.—Could EZ benefits be applied across the entire UK?—The benefits of the 1980s EZs were largely captured by property and land owners rather than local businesses; who will receive the benefits from the current generation of EZs?—Jobs are as likely to be generated in the retail sector as the manufacturing sector; does this matter?—The success of the London Docklands Enterprise Zone can largely be attributed to improved transport infrastructure; such transport proposals are missing from the current proposals.

The Limehouse Link: the architectural and cultural history of a monumental road tunnel in London's Docklands

In the Docklands area of London lies the ‘Limehouse Link’, a dual-bore road tunnel used by around 80,000 cars each day. A monumental and highly expensive piece of construction, the Limehouse Link has nonetheless received almost no attention from architectural historians or others concerned with the history of construction, engineering or urban development. This article provides an introduction to the Limehouse Link, explaining some of the fundamental characteristics of its construction and position in London's urban landscape. More importantly, the article then considers how one might understand an everyday yet monumental construction such as this: a tunnel without obvious aesthetic form, design intent or symbolic meaning, but which nonetheless has an undeniable presence in the city. The Limehouse Link is therefore interpreted in terms of the car driver's immersive experience of the tunnel, more active constructions of this experience through sensory qualities of sound, representations of the tunnel in different media and art, ways of knowing the history of Limehouse, and, in particular, as a kind of aesthetic experience. The article concludes that driving through the Limehouse Link is to engage in a different way of knowing the postmodern city.

A Case Study of Concession Contract Implementation: London Docklands Light Railway(DLR) in the United Kingdom

A Case Study of Concession Contract Implementation: London Docklands Light Railway(DLR) in the United Kingdom