ABSTRACT
From an economic perspective, the Docklands regeneration scheme was perceived by many as being akin to those that took place in other parts of the country. For example, Wood (1986) describes the experience of Docklands as being more like that of coal-mining, shipbuilding and steelworking areas elsewhere in Britain than other areas in London. In five Docklands boroughs between 1971 and 1978 there was a loss of 53,000 manufacturing jobs as well as almost 30,000 jobs in transport industries. The regeneration process transformed an area that was economically and socially in decline into an architecturally and financially successful scheme, which generated both employment and business opportunities. Hall (1989: 213) stated that ‘Docklands are a triumph of planned inner-city regeneration, of a kind’.
