50 C O N T E X T 1 3 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 3 Book reviews The face of commerce New City: contemporary architecture in the City of London Alec Forshaw, photography by Alan Ainsworth, Merrell, 224 pp, 200 colour illustrations, softback, ISBN 978 1 858945 98 9, £19.95 The successive layers of development built and re-built within the crowded streets of the City of London are one of its most remarkable aspects. From Roman Londinium to the City of the Big Bang, centuries of frenetic trade and commerce have driven waves of renewal and reconstruction. No single period since the Great Fire of 1666 has caused as much change as the last 25 years, during which more than three-quarters of the City’s fabric has been renewed. Alec Forshaw’s book provides an authoritative and open-minded account of this remarkable transformation. The book consists of a brief introduction, followed by a series of 12 walks, where significant buildings and their settings are assessed. As an IHBC member, and former chief conservation and design officer at adjoining Islington Borough Council, Forshaw well understands the complex political, social and economic issues that underscore urban regeneration, and which can be ignored within the sometimes single-minded conservation sector. His introduction is a masterly summary of the global economic forces and competitive priorities brought about by financial deregulation, and the astute manner in which the City of London Corporation has intervened to facilitate development. The abandonment of plot ratios in 1994, for example, enabled the City to absorb the sudden demand for commercial floor space after the Big Bang, building high where this had previously not been possible. Stricter urban design and conservation principles (including those protecting the setting of St Paul’s Cathedral) were introduced to achieve a balance between discrepancies of scale. Forshaw suggests that these policies have been effective on the whole, although on the divisive issue of tall buildings he avoids taking sides. His view on conservation is that it has enjoyed fluctuating fortunes, the Corporation sometimes finding historic buildings to be a hindrance to growth and prosperity (as in the present standoff with SAVE over Smithfield Market). Recent debate has focused more on post-war buildings, where pressure for spot listing is likely to become more common.What sets the City apart from its rivals Tokyo, Shanghai and Frankfurt and CanaryWharf, however, is its surviving medieval street layout, and network of alleyways and informal spaces. These are especially promoted by Peter Rees, the charismatic city planning officer, who values the opportunity they provide for chance encounters, and who is convinced that places attract people, and that connectivity, both virtual and physical, stimulates collaboration, creativity and shared knowledge. The walks that comprise the major part of the book are set out in a clear fashion with maps and photographs. Each building and space is described and assessed with appropriate, but rarely strident, critical comment (Forshaw is not a Gavin Stamp or an Ian Nairn). The overall impression is that the architecture of the past 25 years is superior to that which immediately preceded it, and that it has improved further in the 21st century. Furthermore, this thoughtful book, much more than an architectural gazetteer, raises many questions that are fundamental to the future of civilised life in the City of London. One of the most pressing is whether the remorseless concentration on commercial floor space has been the right approach, or whether greater diversity may now be required. Forshaw is confident on one thing: that the days of speculative and iconic architectural design are over, and that the emphasis will be on refurbishment rather than continued redevelopment. But even this is unlikely to inhibit further transformative change. Peter de Figueiredo, heritage consultant Temporary is normal Urban Catalyst: the power of temporary use Philip Oswalt, Klaus Overmeyer, Philipp Misselwitz, DOM Publishers, 2013, 384pp, more than 200 illustrations, softcover, ISBN 978 3 869222 61 5, €38 This could be termed a book for the recession: a handbook on introducing a temporary use in to a stalled development site, or even just a stalled neighbourhood. However, the initiators and editors of the book, who call themselves Urban Catalyst and are academics and practitioners from across Europe, would argue that temporary uses are not just for the recession, but offer a multitude of benefits in any economic context. In fact the theories propagated can be seen in a very broad context with the statement ‘even normal uses are temporary’. This is something the historic building specialist will be familiar with. The self-stated aim of Urban Catalyst is to advocate intelligent incorporation of temporary uses into a new form of urban planning based on the ‘formalization of the informal and the informalization of the formal’. Such tautological language makes the book slightly difficult to read at leisure, but the slightly over-academic approach does not detract from its interest. The introductory chapters are especially useful in charting the history of the temporary use movement from its expansion in the 1970s and 80s in Europe’s devastated cities up to present day. They also examine the patterns of temporary use. Nine types are cited, beginning with stand-in, which has no lasting effect on the place, ‘merely using the gap between the last use and the next’, and ending with displacement, where ‘permanent uses are temporarily displaced and continue in an improvised fashion until they are able to return to their permanent location’. The book goes on to explain the
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