ABSTRACT
The concept of the Thames Gateway has been around since the 1980s, recognising the potential to provide much needed new housing for the south east of England in an area with considerable industrial dereliction and urban deprivation. The Thames Gateway extends 40 miles eastwards from London Docklands, and at its maximum 20 miles north and south of the Thames, with 1.45 million existing residents and 637,000 people (ODPM 2006) working within a diverse area, ranging from the financial hotspot of Canary Wharf to areas of substantial economic decline and social deprivation. Those promoting the Thames Gateway concept have emphasised its role in unlocking the hidden potential of the area and providing a counterbalance to the enormous growth pressures being felt elsewhere in the capital, particularly to the west. Nor has it been the only effort to kickstart development to the east of London. The longue durée of economic and social change in the area, overlaid with successive strategies and institutional arrangements for regeneration, provides a unique opportunity to explore the shift from a ‘topdown’ tightly focused development-orientated form of government typified by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) in the 1980s, through a more regionally and spatially orientated approach in the 1990s to a more ‘bottom-up’ partnership-led spatial governance style in the 2000s. Onto this evolving governance and planning approach further exogenous ‘shock’ can be added, such as the need to accommodate London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid.
