ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the policy proposals that have recently emerged to develop the real economy of East London and provides an evaluation of their likelihood of success. The conceptual assumptions common to all regeneration initiatives that have tried to address the effects of deindustrialisation are explored in order to show how they still inform recent attempts to relate to the real economy. The chapter argues that three theoretical concepts underpin all such initiatives- globalisation, inward investment and the knowledge economy. The relationship between innovation, the promotion of which is seen as central to enable the growth of the knowledge economy in the process of economic regeneration, to the real economy in general and, in particular, to manufacturing is examined. The Green Enterprise District proposal was launched by Mayor of London Boris Johnson in May 2011 in a speech given at a Business and Sustainable Environment (BASE) Sustainability Conference in the newly opened International Convention Centre at ExCel.
