ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three broad ‘contexts' – local, global and power – that constrain and inform all areas of urban design action. The development of Canary Wharf in London's Isle of Dogs makes little reference to and is often not connected to its surrounding context. Despite significant investment in the area, the benefits have often been negligible in areas adjacent to the key developments, such as in Poplar, immediately to the north of Canary Wharf, but separated from it by heavy infrastructure installed to connect the new financial quarter to the old City of London. Many are not particularly historic, nor of high aesthetic quality, but are primarily valued for their social and cultural rather than physical qualities. The relation between culture and environment is a two-way process: in aggregate and over time, people's choices create distinctive local cultures that both shape environments and are symbolised within that environment; the environments created both reinforcing and representing that culture.
