East London and Post Olympics

This is the text of a talk I gave to a conference examining the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics ten years on, organised by University College London in September 2022. The talk was accompanied by a Powerpoint. As evening drew on we went to what was left of Tower Bridge to watch ‘The Post-Olympic Dream’, marveling at  the  flickering figures as they vaulted over … [Read more...] about On being left behind : the haunting legacies of London 2012

As you walk around Queen Elizabeth OlympicPark you will notice many new buildings, new housing, schools, workplaces, offices and hotels, even a new university campus and cultural quarter, as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy materialises on the ground. It is easy then to think that there was nothing much here before2012, and indeed much of the official media … [Read more...] about Groundbreakers Guide

 Hysterical Materialism and the role of the University in post-pandemic heritage making: the case of East London[1]                                             The removal of World Heritage status from Liverpool’s new dockside development in 2021 re-animated a rhetorical divide in urban planning which many people had thought well and truly buried – the conflict between the … [Read more...] about Building Back Better?

East London's Regeneration Story In this virtual lecture, given  to  architectural and planning students at the Bartlett School, University College London in September 2020, Phil explores the implications  of the pandemic  for urban place making  and heritage. The lecture focuses on a case study of East London's regeneration and the impact of the 2012 … [Read more...] about Building Back Better?

  Introduction The story of the Trojan horse and its role in ending the seige of the city  is a  cautionary tale about a fake legacy gift. It has  bequeathed to us the most famous line of Vergil’s Aeneid  through which schoolboys of my class and generation were introduced to the fiendish intricacies of Latin verse: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes – I fear the Greeks … [Read more...] about The Greeks and the Gifts they bring : Post Olympic heritage and place making in East London