ABSTRACT
The redevelopment of London’s Docklands remains one of the world’s most signifi cant and contested examples of waterfront regeneration. The activities of the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), with its mission to ‘regenerate’ the extensive former dock area to the east of the city of London, are often seen as epitomizing the policies and ideologies of the 1980s; the physical embodiment of a belief in markets as the prime mechanism for redevelopment brought about by an agency that privileged business over local interests. Major projects promoted by the LDDC, such as Canary Wharf, underline this perception and illustrate the disputed nature of the LDDC’s legacy (see Figure 6.1). Since its emergence as a fi nancial centre, Canary Wharf has often been represented as a development essential to securing London’s status as a world city and a model to be followed elsewhere (Greater London Authority [GLA] 2004). Yet it is equally portrayed as a symbol of the intensifi cation of
Figure 6.1 The Canary Wharf development (Photograph courtesy of D. Earl and E2BN).
