THE RECONSTRUCTION OF LONDON
nuE homage has been paid to John Nash, the architect, in memory of his death a hundred years ago. The occasion should not be allowed to pass in mere praise of his work. This centenary differs from many others which offer no more than a plausible excuse for conferring a convenient topicality on bygone worthies. It happens that the century which has passed since Nash's time has carried us from one turning-point in the history of London to another, in many ways comparable. Nash anticipated change as we ought to be anticipating it. He had a creative conception of the needs and dignity of a changing metropolis as we ought to have, and he translated his ideas into accomplished fact whilst there was yet time. And just as he and his master, the Prince Regent, were inspired by Napoleon's achievements in Paris, so we might be inspired by the example of Mussolini in Rome. Our task is even more difficult than that which confronted Nash, but the need to perform it is proportionately greater.
He approached the problem of western London as Wren in an earlier period hoped to approach that of the City—with a plan ; and he was fortunate in being able to carry the greater part of it to completion. The metropolis with which he had to deal was one whose centre was not yet separated from the open country by hundreds of square miles of suburbs. Its circumference was still manageably near. But the time had just arrived when its expansion was to become extraordinarily rapid, and the early phases of this quick mushroom growth must already have been visible to Nash and his more observant contemporaries. Starting, then, with Buckingham. Palace. and St. James's Park as his West End centre, he casts his eye northwards to the green extremity, and designs not indeed a complete " green belt " such as we talk of nowadays, but a large green space, with an inner circular road and an outer circular road, surrounded with suitable residences. This became Regent's Park. Then he turns himself to the approaches to this pleasant area, and prepares an adequate and dignified way through the heart of the built-up region from the one park to the other ; and in the course of time we have Waterloo Place, Lower Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, the Quadrant and the rest of Regent Street, conducting us to Oxford Circus and, via Portland Place, to Regent's Park. Trafalgar Square comes into the general scheme, and a road was projected, but never constructed, leading into Bloomsbury.
Our modern problem is different, but in many respects similar. It is complicated by the disorderly building which has gone on, undirected, for a century, and has doomed us now to the necessity of preserving any new green spaces we may contemplate ten miles, instead of one, from, the centre. It is affected also by new traffic conditions, by the tendency towards higher buildings, and the enhanced value of land which makes the cost of demolition and clearance greater. But it is, or should be, eased by one factor in the situation to which attention has been insufficiently drawn. The demand for new, taller, modernized buildings leads to the constant pulling down of old buildings and the erection of new ones in their place. Central London is in process of being com- pletely rebuilt, though the reconstruction takes place piecemeal, and not all at once. This constant process of reconstruction affords the ideal opportunity, if only advantage were taken of it before it is too late, to rebuild central London in accordance with a plan as perfect as that which Nash actually carried out within his limited sphere, of operations.
Already the public mind is beginning to be prepared to face these problems. There has been the Greater London Regional Town-planning Committee turning its attention to one aspect of the question, and the Ministry of Transport to another ; and some years ago Mr. Neville Chamberlain had the foresight to make town-planning powers applicable to built-up areas. Proposals for planning have been made in practical .form for the areas outside London, and the Ministry of Transport has actually constructed the necessary arterial roads for bringing motor traffic to the edge of the busy neighbourhoods. But that is all. The traffic for which such splendid provision has been made on all the main roads converging on London rolls easily to the edge of the congested area, and then has to fight its way hugger-mugger by unsuitable streets to its central destination.
Our town-planning and transport authorities have begun their planned operations from the outside. It is time they now made a fresh start, acting in harmony, from the centre, as Nash did. The centre should be in the region of Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross. The River Thames is the natural feature which should dominate the situation now, as it did throughout the greater part of London's history. The Charing Cross Bridge scheme, uneconomically dropped during the economy epidemic of 1931, should be revived, providing, with its approaches on either side, a new artery from the centre of London leading direct into the undeveloped slumland south of the river, where demolition and reconstruction would soon prove to be profitable development. A new, tree- embellished embankment on the south would be the starting point of the needed and much-discussed western exit from London—possibly an overhead highway if the cost of cutting a low-level road were regarded as prohibitive.
This is not the place to discuss the new developments which should be similarly planned northwards or west- wards from the centre. It is sufficient, perhaps, to point out that if a scheme for the development of central London is not thought out soon, and preparations made for carrying it out as opportunity presents itself, then the task, which circumstances will inevitably thrust upon. London at some time, will become more difficult and more costly as new tall buildings go up and new vested interests are created. Many of these great new structures have already gone up. Others are about to be erected. Still others will come later. Projected frontages which might at moderate expense be set back now in " return for higher building rights will not easily be altered when building has been begun. It is already late to start, but not yet too late. Never was there a moment in the history of the metropolis when it was so imperative that there should be an all-embracing plan, involving the voluntary or enforced co-operation of all the authorities, to provide for the development of central and greater London as Nash, in his day, provided for an important part of it. These comments have been confined to the problem of London, whose case is- supremely important not only because it is the greatest city in the world, but because it is expanding more rapidly than any other British city. Also it combines the characteristics of an old town and a new. Yet similar problems are arising elsewhere—in populous growing towns in the provinces. Their task is not so difficult as that of London, and an effort made now would avert the necessity of a greater effort later. In some cases the clearance of slum areas and the relief of overcrowded areas should afford just the opportunity that is desired for a new lay-out of the centre and the provixion of suitable approaches,
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