Jane Manning - Complexcity: Londons Changing Character

The authors work together at Allies and Morrison. Jane Manninghas led masterplans across many of London's opportunity areas, drawing on her background in environmental planning and urban design. A town planner and urban designer, who has published a wide range of research for Historic England, Antony Rifkinco-founded Urban Practitioners which merged with Allies and Morrison in 2011. The practice's head of communications, Daniel Elseais a multi-disciplinary urbanist who has published widely on architecture, global cities and visual culture. Trained as an architect ,Lionel Eidhas taught at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and the Architectural Association in London where his research focused on the history of urban development .George Garofolakisis a planner and urban designer with a particular specialism in the analysis and visualisation of spatial data.

EmilyGee
London Planning Director
Historic England

There is a wide and wonderful range of publications on our capital city's history but, you may ask, why has London's extraordinary character not yet been fully assessed? Many London boroughs have done characterisation assessments to inform their planning work, but the coverage is incomplete and suffers from the use of different methodologies, effectively preventing its use at a pan-London strategic level to inform consistent policymaking. Given the pressures for growth that London is facing, with tens of thousands of new homes required each year, London needs effective policies underpinned by robust evidence - including a thorough understanding of character to meet its citizens' needs

This book has grown out of an important part of the work Historic England have been doing in London in recent years, supporting the Greater London Authority (GLA) in reviewing and updating the London Plan to ensure that London's growth sustains and enhances its historic environment.

Historic England is the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England's spectacular historic environment. We protect, champion and save places that define who we are. Working with communities and specialists we share our passion, knowledge and skills to inspire interest, care and conservation, so everyone can keep enjoying and looking after the history that surrounds us all. In addition to providing planning advice to local authorities on development proposals and advising the government on which buildings and sites should be protected, we carry out a broad range of activities to support a wider understanding of our heritage.

Helping people to analyse, articulate and value the character of the places that matter to them is an important part of our work. We have, over many years, supported the characterisation of England's historic landscape, creating detailed data sets to provide context for conservation decisions, while recognising that change needs to happen to maintain locally distinctive and thriving places. However, and perhaps surprisingly, one part of the country where this work remains incomplete is London.