Context 168 - June 2021

C O N T E X T 1 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 5 ‘THE GOVERNMENT does not support the removal of statues or other similar objects… I would expect arm’s length bodies’ approach to issues of contested heritage to be consistent with the government’s position. ‘Further, as publicly funded bodies, you should not be taking actions motivated by activism or politics. The significant support that you receive from the taxpayer is an acknowledgement of the important cultural role you play for the entire country. ‘It is imperative that you continue to act impartially, in line with your publicly funded status, and not in a way that brings this into question. This is especially important as we enter a challenging comprehensive spending review, in which all government spending will rightly be scrutinised.’ Culture secretary Oliver Dowden reminding DCMS arm’s length bodies of the government’s position on contested heritage. retrofit its existing building stock. ‘It has also linked its employees’ annual bonuses to the embodied carbon figures, which has already resulted in a preference for refurbishment over demolition.’ OliverWainwright in the Guardian ‘I NEVER imagined that I would see a planning inspector order a developer to put back what he’d just knocked down, to look exactly as it was. I thought the developer would get a slap on the wrist, a £6,000 fine. ‘But I was flabbergasted – and it has set an incredibly useful precedent. Other planning inspectors will remember it, and so will developers.’ JamesWatson, pub protection adviser for the Campaign for Pubs, commenting in the Guardian on the rebuilding of a west London pub, the Carlton Tavern ‘I FIND IT extraordinary that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, which is daily under scrutiny for its past and present failures in fire and building safety, continues to rubberstamp planning applications for unwelcome basements when so many have caused irreparable harm. ‘It is simply not good enough to wave surveyors’ reports under the noses of planning officers. Every single one of these buildings that have fully or partially collapsed during excavations has a first- class report, which clearly isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. ‘Let’s stop this destruction until we have a safer way to ensure our built heritage – and the lives of residents – isn’t at risk.’ Emma Dent Coad, local councillor and former Kensington MP, quoted in the Daily Telegraph FromCivics: as applied sociology by Patrick Geddes (1904) But a city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time. Though the claim of geography be fundamental our interest in the history of the city is supremely greater; it is obviously no mere geographic circumstances which developed one hill-fort in Judea, and another in Attica, into world centres, to this day more deeply influential and significant than are the vastest modern capitals. This very wealth of historical interests and resources, the corresponding multiplicity of specialisms, more than ever proves the need of some means by which to group and classify them. Some panoramic simplification of our ideas of history comparable to that of our geography, and if possible congruent with this, is plainly what we want. Again the answer comes through geography, though no longer in mere map or relief, but now in vertical section—in the order of strata ascending from past to present, whether we study rock-formations with the geologist, excavate more recent accumulations with the archaeologist, or interpret ruins or monuments with the historian. Though the primitive conditions we have above noted with the physiographer remain apparent, indeed usually permanent, cities have none the less their characteristic phases of historic development decipherably superposed. Thus below even the characteristically patriarchal civilisations, an earlier matriarchal order is often becoming disclosed. Our interest in exploring some stately modern or Renaissance city is constantly varied by finding some picturesque medieval remnant; below this some fragment of Roman ruin; below this it may be some barbarian fort or mound. Hence the fascinating interest of travel, which compels us ever to begin our survey anew. ‘BRITISH Land, developer of the Leadenhall Building (the “cheese grater” tower) in the City of London, recently introduced an internal levy on its carbon emissions, essentially taxing the carbon of its own projects to create a fund that is used to