Thames sunset as seen from Woolwich

We spent a good week in London this summer on our way to South America (more on that soon). While the city and some people here mean the world to me, I had felt a bit estranged during the last couple of visits. Part of that came from learning more about how cities work, and turning thus more critical of the place London had become since my idealized undergraduate days here in the early and mid-2000s.

London has its own category here, owing to several lengthy posts penned early on in the life of this blog. The ones I revisited in spirit this time are this Dockland walk and this one on the ever-changing skyline of the City of London. Mind you, this was 13 years ago, and a lot of the stuff written back then is still pertinent.

To me one of the absolute eye catchers this time is the redevelopment along the Elizabeth Line and the asymmetric and perverse value capture of this gigantic public investment project. The positive externalities accrue to a large degree to landowners and developers in the station area’s vicinities.