London's Environment

The following sections are included:

• Preface

• Contents

The following sections are included:

• THE IDEA

• THE NATURAL SETTING

• THE DIVERSITY OF THE CITY'S ENVIRONMENT

• POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY

• GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

• REFERENCES

The British are famous for their cities, which they both love and hate. They gave to the world the idea and the practice of how cities can flourish and they pioneered how to deal with some of the worst environmental and social aspects of the industrial revolution in urban areas. Between the 1830s and 1860s about 70 cities were founded in Britain. The Prussians and many other nationalities came to see these extraordinary legal and administrative innovations, which they copied, developed and often improved in their own countries. Today 90% of the British live in cities. London, through effective action by government and business at every level, continues to prosper and attracts migrants from all over the world.

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• JOHANNESBURG

• LONDON

• AIR QUALITY

• CLIMATE CHANGE

• WASTE

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• A SENSE OF PLACE: LONDON PAST

• A SENSE OF PLACE: LONDON'S HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT TODAY

• A SENSE OF IDENTITY: THE ROLE AND VALUE OF LONDON'S HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT IN ITS FUTURE

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

• THE MAYOR'S STRATEGIES

• AN ENERGY STRATEGY FOR LONDON

• MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

• BIODIVERSITY

• AIR QUALITY

• AMBIENT NOISE

• KEYS TO FUTURE SUCCESS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• THE LONDON ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

• GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF HEALTH IN LONDON

• HEALTH AND SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

• ENVIRONMENT AND INDIVIDUAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITION

• CHARACTERISING THE EFFECTS OF THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT ON HEALTH

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• AIR QUALITY OBJECTIVES

• OBSERVATION AND MEASUREMENT OF AIR POLLUTION OVER LONDON

• WHAT CAUSES HIGH LEVELS OF POLLUTION OVER LONDON?

• THE METEOROLOGY OF LONDON

• MODELLING AND ASSESSMENT OF POLLUTANT CONCENTRATIONS AGAINST OBJECTIVES

• FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS IN LONDON'S ATMOSPHERE

• CONCLUSION

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

• REFERENCES

The history of the scientific and artistic studies of air pollution and urban atmosphere sheds light on current concerns about how climate change and the development of cities might affect London's air quality over the coming decades. Smoke pollution and the permanent smoke haze that enveloped the Victorian cities of Britain not only ruined people's health through rickets, bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma but it also altered the climate, reducing sunshine and increasing the number and severity of fog episodes. The climate in these cities in the 19th century was far more dramatic and visual than it is today as smoke blotted out the sky and also gave the air a filthy smell and taste. The horrors of smoke pollution and the growth of legislation to try and deal with it have been well documented, not just in Britain (Brimblecombe 1988; Mosley 2001; Luckin 2002) but also in Germany (Brüggemeier 1994) and the United States (Stradling 1999).

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• LONDON'S BIODIVERSITY

• VALUES

• LONDON IS NOT AN ISLAND

• ACTIONS AND INFORMATION

• A LONDON WILDLIFE GARDEN

• REFERENCES

• WEB PAGE ADDRESSES

The following sections are included:

• WATER SUPPLY IN A SUSTAINABLE CITY

• WATER FROM RIVERS AND BOREHOLES

• LONDON'S RESERVOIRS
  • Location and Maintenance of Reservoirs
  • Biological Processes within Reservoirs

• DEVELOPMENTS IN WATER TREATMENT

• “FINISHING” WATER USING SLOW SAND FILTERS (SSFs) AND CHLORINATION
  • Processes within Slow Sand Filter Beds
  • Chlorination

• CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

• THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURE

• DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ROYAL PARKS

• PARK MANAGEMENT

• A HOLISTIC ROLE FOR THE PARKS?

• THE ROYAL PARK'S FUTURE AND ROLE

The following sections are included:

• THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CITY

• POLLUTION AND WATER QUALITY

• MANAGEMENT OF THE THAMES AND LONDON'S RIVERS

• THE THAMES LEISURE ECONOMY

• THE COMMERCIAL RIVER ECONOMY

• A MIXED FUTURE

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• THE MEGA-CITY PERSPECTIVE

• THE LONDON MEGA-CITY AND ITS HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE OF HAZARDS AND DISASTERS
  • Longevity Leads to Learning Opportunities
  • London and Londoners as Witnesses to Transforming Hazards
  • How Policies to Protect Open Space are Linked to the Generation of Hazards
  • The Unconsidered Relationships between Development and Increased Hazard Potential
  • How Londoners Experience Hazards

• MANAGING THE TIDAL FLOOD RISK
  • The Progressively Increasing Risk
  • Evolving Tidal Flood Risk Management Strategies
  • Dramatically Increasing Flood Exposure Potential
  • Infrastructure which is Highly Vulnerable to Damage and Disruption by Flooding
  • Residual Low Probability Tidal Flood Risks Require Management
  • Rising Tide Levels and Potential Flood Exposure Have Made London Dependent Upon High-technology Investments into the Future

• MANAGING THE NON-TIDAL FLOOD RISK
  • Flood Plains that Continue to Accommodate Development

• STEEPLY-RISING FLOOD DAMAGE POTENTIAL

• A RISK ASSESSMENT FOR LONDONERS

• HAZARD MANAGEMENT IN LONDON: LIMITATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
  • Hazard Management Response Has Often been Ineffective
  • Some Successes Have been Achieved
  • Opportunities for Creative Hazard Management
  • Government or Market Directed Policies?
  • Joined-up Policies for Transport-related Hazards Reduction
  • Early Intervention in Development Planning for More Successful Hazard Management
  • Counter-measures for the Hazard-generating Effects of Urban Containment Policies
  • A Londoner's Safety Charter?
  • New Institutional Designs are Needed
  • Neglected Opportunities to Reduce Vulnerability of Londoners to Risks
  • Developing Alternatives to Complement Technological Management Strategies

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• LONDON — A CITY CENTRE OF DIVERSITY

• LONDON — AS A CITY OF CENTRES

• LONDON — A WORLD GATEWAY

• CONCLUSIONS

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• THE NEW MEDIA FOR PARTICIPATION

• HACKNEY AND WOODBERRY DOWN: DEPRIVATION AND REGENERATION

• DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEB RESOURCES

• THE STRUCTURE OF ONLINE PARTICIPATION IN WOODBERRY DOWN

• CONCLUSIONS: WHAT NEXT?

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• SUSTAINABILITY IN BRITAIN

• PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY

• SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT

• LONDON

• COMPARISON

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

Born in Indiana in 1871, Theodore Dreiser started his career on the Chicago Globe and St. Louis Globe-Democrat in the early 1890s. He watched and reported on the shady financial dealings and grubby politics of these boisterous cities.

Over the last 250 years London has suffered from confused government and a poor environment and at the same time its population has increased by a factor of 11. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the expansion of London was uncontrolled, causing a lack of infrastructure and municipal services in many districts of the city. (Further aspects of London's history are discussed in Chapter 4 and by Aykroyd (2001).) The city was governed comparatively well by the City Corporation but the rest of London was controlled by parish vestries, which were increasingly ineffective. London's environment and its impact on public health were the main driving force for the reform of this situation. London's water was drawn by private companies, unfiltered from the same stretches of the Thames into which soiled water was discharged. This led to outbreaks of typhus and several outbreaks of cholera, killing thousands of people at a time. The main campaigner for reform was Edwin Chadwick (1800–1890), who proposed a central commission to manage the water, drainage, paving and street cleaning for all London. However Parliament, in 1855, chose a more decentralised approach, in which a lower tier of elected vestries and district boards elected a central Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW). The MBW had very limited powers but achieved its main purpose — the building of a main drainage system. Following the ‘Great Stink’ of 1858, when sittings at the House of Commons had to be abandoned because of the smell from the Thames, the MBW was allowed to get on with this work independently, and by 1865 the system was in place.

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL ISSUES?

• WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• Postscript

• APPENDIX
  • Reports of Breakout Groups at LEAF Conference 2002
    • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LONDON – John Murlis
    • SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS – David Crowhurst
    • RE-ENGINEERING THE HOUSEHOLD — HOW CAN WE MAKE RECYCLING AS EASY AS PUTTING DIRTY WASHING IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET? – Simon Reed
      • INTRODUCTION
      • THE “DIRTY WASHING” EXPERIENCE
      • THE CHALLENGE
      • THE SOLUTION — “RE-ENGINEERING THE HOUSEHOLD”
        • The Design, Ease of Use and Accessibility of Recycling Containers in Homes
        • Changing Attitudes and Behaviour to Recycling Your Rubbish
      • CONCLUSIONS
    • ECOLOGY OF LONDON'S WATERWAYS – Dave Webb
      • INTRODUCTION
      • ISSUES
      • THE WAY FORWARD
    • CHANGES IN AVIAN BIODIVERSITY, INCLUDING SPARROWS – Jan Hewlett and Keith Noble
    • CLIMATE CHANGE AND LONDON – Tim Reeder
      • ADAPTATION
      • SHORT TERM MITIGATION
      • LONG TERM MITIGATION
    • MONITORING THE ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT OF LONDON – Roy Colvile
    • MONITORING AND REDUCING NOISE – Jenny Stoker
      • INTRODUCTION
      • NOISE MAPPING
      • SOME SOLUTIONS FOR LONDON
      • SOME ADDITIONAL IDEAS
      • REFERENCES
    • LAGOON FOR LONDON – Richard Layard
      • PROPOSAL
      • BENEFITS
      • THE POSSIBILITIES
      • SO WHAT ARE THE MAIN PROBLEMS?
      • CONCLUSION
      • DISCUSSION
    • YOUNG PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVES ON LONDON
      • Children of Eastbury Secondary School (and Carolyn Stephens)

• Author Biographies

• Breakout Group Biographies

• Index