london: is declining as one of the leading global cities of the world

The U.K.’s unresolved withdrawal from the European Union has embroiled the government in political chaos that cost Prime Minister Theresa May her job, stymied industry planning, and threatens to bring the boom to an end. It stretches for a thousand feet, parallel to the King’s Cross railway platforms, and boasts that its rooftop garden will grow “fields” of wildflowers and feature a running trail.īut three years of uncertainty over Brexit have trumped every urban annoyance.

Google’s 11-story “ landscraper,” large enough to house about 7,000 employees, may be the most original design. Google, Deep Mind (Google’s artificial intelligence research lab), and Facebook are building unconventional London headquarters there. Pancras rail stations (the latter home to the Eurostar train to Paris), a new campus for an art and design college, music venues, parks and fountains, and housing-both high-end and affordable. The transformation includes the renewed King’s Cross and St.

King’s Cross, a derelict railroad transfer point known more recently for prostitution and drugs, is showing Londoners what a well-rounded makeover looks like. Meanwhile, defunct industrial sites along the Thames and the city’s hundred-mile network of canals are being reinvented as new neighborhoods-and pricey waterfront real estate-featuring pedestrian-friendly public spaces and retail shops that favor local entrepreneurs over chain outlets. Half are going up in East London, soon to be better connected to West London when Crossrail, the $20 billion high-speed railway, opens its Elizabeth line next year, relieving congestion on the aging London Tube and cutting travel times between east and west by as much as half. More than 500 new tall buildings are in the pipeline across Greater London. All that growth fed a construction boom that is redrawing London’s historic skyline and includes several of the largest regeneration projects in Europe. And despite the upheaval of Brexit, London is on track to add two million more residents by 2050. The city is home to more than 8.8 million residents-a population expansion largely fed by immigration. Three decades of growth transformed London from a fading grande dame into the preeminent global city and a leading center of culture, finance, and technology.

Its status as the center for bankers in Europe may be threatened by Brexit.īees to the honeypot: London is bigger and richer than ever. With time ticking on the 'Six Public Clocks' installation, workers break on Reuters Plaza during lunch hour in the Canary Wharf financial district.

London: is declining as one of the leading global cities of the world