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Architecture and crisis: re-inventing the icon, re-imag(in)ing London and re-branding the City

2010; Wiley; Volume: 35; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1475-5661.2010.00398.x

1475-5661

Maria Kaïka,

Urbanization and City Planning

Transactions of the Institute of British GeographersVolume 35, Issue 4 p. 453-474 Architecture and crisis: re-inventing the icon, re-imag(in)ing London and re-branding the City Maria Kaika, Maria Kaika Department of Geography, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PLemail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author Maria Kaika, Maria Kaika Department of Geography, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PLemail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 27 July 2010 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2010.00398.xCitations: 85Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract London’s skyline is changing significantly with a new generation of iconic buildings, of which the Swiss-Re Tower is the most well known. Despite the fact that many of these buildings are located in the City (London’s financial heart), little attention has been paid to the relationship between the transformation of London’s skyline and the recent institutional reconfiguration of the Corporation of London, the authority that runs the City. Focusing empirically on the City’s iconic architecture, and foregrounding a period of institutional crisis for the Corporation (1970–1990), the paper: first, departs from the standard analysis of iconic buildings as signifiers of economic success, and sketches a framework for examining the role of iconic architecture during moments of crisis and, second, offers a new approach to understanding the City’s iconic commissions: not as signifiers of London’s international economic power, but as symptoms of changes in the institutions and élites that promote the City’s new urbanity. The article details how the internationalisation of London’s economy after the 1970s challenged the Corporation’s insular character. The Corporation’s resistance to the ‘invasion’ of foreign companies, people and architectural styles in the City in the midst of a rapid expansion of London’s economy and growing inter-urban competition, led to open threats from the government for the abolition of the Corporation. Responding to these threats, the Corporation reinvented itself with an institutional reform and re-branded its identity in the early 2000s as an outward-looking institution, open to London’s new transnational élites. The 2002 Unitary Development Plan that introduced a new architectural language in the City corresponds to the same need to construct a new imaginary identity for a re-branded Corporation. Towering over the City’s traditional signifiers, the City’s new buildings constitute an ode to the Corporation’s new identity and a visual coup d’état against its time-old heritage-oriented planning. 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