ABSTRACT

The capital city has also been the scene of glittering developments. The soaring towers of the new financial district of Canary Wharf, built on the site of the former docks, are one striking symbol of this epoch, rivalled by the construction of many other spectacular buildings throughout London, whose symbolic aim is to flaunt new wealth and power. The developments have brought some benefit to many London citizens and visitors who have little part in the development of the financial sector. The decades from 1980 saw the triumph of neo-liberalism a version of free-market corporate capitalism in almost every sphere of Britain's life. At the moment of its apparent triumph the neo-liberal system imploded in the crisis of the banking system in 2008. The neo-liberal assumption is that below the aggregate level of regulation of supply and demands', free markets will appropriately determine the allocation of capital resources.