ABSTRACT
Is the Thames Gateway urban regeneration project in trouble? Looking at the headlines in the summer of 2007 one might be forgiven for thinking that this grandest of grands projets, which claims to be Europe’s largest contemporary city transformation programme, might not be faring so well. In the spring of 2007, it appeared that the planning inquiry into the major new landmark Thames River crossing between Greenwich (Thamesmead) and Newham had run into trouble as the fi nal judgement of the planning inquiry failed to give the new build the green light. In May 2007, the National Audit Offi ce (NAO, 2007a) published the results of its investigation into the Gateway, Thames Gateway: Laying the Foundations, which was taken to be highly critical. It was accompanied by a companion (NAO, 2007b) on How European Cities Achieve Renaissance, a survey of ‘good practice’ across seven metropolitan centres.
