London, the Humanist City

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 1995

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This year's Reith lecturer is Richard Rogers, one of the most influential British architects of our time. He has established himself and his practice at the forefront of today's architecture industry through such high-profile projects as the Pompidou Centre, the headquarters for Lloyds of London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Millennium Dome in London. His series of lectures is entitled 'Sustainable City' and each lecture focuses on architecture's social role and the sustainable urban development of towns and cities through social and environmental responsibility. In his fourth Reith lecture, Richard Rogers turns his attention to London and examines some of the economic, social and ecological problems it currently faces. He argues that London offers every opportunity to create a cultured, balanced, and sustainable city but it urgently needs to adopt a new and sustainable approach that encourages its public life, discourages urban sprawl, and protects the environment for the future rather than being abandoned to the mercy of market forces. This, he believes, can only be realised by an overall authority for the capital.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Ruth Lectures.
0:04.5	This lecture in the series Sustainable City, given by Richard Rogers, was originally broadcast in 1995.
0:12.4	I have lived in London for more than 40 years, and like so many of its architects in the past,
0:18.5	I have spent much of my professional life struggling with its problems
0:21.8	and dreaming of its opportunities. London has been one of the world's most powerful financial,
0:28.7	commercial and cultural capitals for the best part of 400 years. The legacy of that prosperity
0:35.1	resides in its architecture, in its parks, in its theatres and museums.
0:41.2	London is still a world leader in finance and culture, but today the capital faces grave economic, social and ecological problems.
0:51.6	London must urgently adopt a new and sustainable approach that encourages its public
0:57.5	life, discourages urban sprawl and protects the environment for the future. Today I will discuss
1:04.2	how London could be transformed into a sustainable city. The London that welcomed my Italian parents and many others in the early 1930s was a democratic
1:15.6	haven from the persecution of European fascism. But the humanism of this great city went far beyond
1:22.7	political tolerance. London was the first city to create a complex civic administration which could
1:29.4	coordinate modern urban services from public transport to housing, clean water to education.
1:36.3	If Britain was renowned for its parliament, then London's county council was acknowledged as the most
1:41.6	progressive metropolitan government in the world.
1:52.5	Fifty years earlier, London was the worst slum city of the industrialized world, overcrowded,
1:59.3	congested, polluted, and ridden with disease. Public outcry and Victorian confidence,
2:01.8	backed by strong support from the press,
2:07.0	led to inspired planning legislation and crucially to the creation of the LCC.
2:13.2	This pioneering approach to London's management survived 100 years.
2:25.7	In 1985, Conservative central government destroyed rather than attempted to reform the Greater London Council, a purely vindictive and politically motivated action.
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