ABSTRACT
London’s particular – not to say peculiar – position within national and international urban hierarchies raises some fundamental questions for the analysis of regeneration strategies within the city. London is not only a world city, but also the national capital. It is a diverse and multicultural city, a feature celebrated by local (and even national) politicians. It has a growing middle-class population and workforce but at the same time it is a deeply divided city, characterised by growing inequality. And it is the centre of a wider urban region that draws in millions more. It has a nationally signifi cant economic role, to the extent that its continued success is frequently identifi ed by government as a necessary condition for the maintenance of the UK’s prosperity. This chapter refl ects on these different understandings and the relationships between them as a means of revisiting and refl ecting on some of the arguments arising from earlier chapters.
