In 1981 The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) came into being and with it 8.5 square miles of South and East London were taken out of local authority control and transformed forever. Steering Europe’s largest urban regeneration project the LDDC was a quango, a body created by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government as part of a radical new approach to cities; one that for 17 years put the free market front and centre of change and shifted the historic geographies of the capital, turning the vast derelict warehouses and wharfs of the former Port of London into a set of residential and recreational landscapes and competing commercial hubs.
Marking 40 years since its inception, urban historian Mike Althorpe aka The London Ambler explores the legacy of the LDDC for The London Society.
Final part in three part virtual season of walks charting architecture, landscape and change for Summer 2021.
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