London as a case study of successful urban planning

London as a of successful urban planning - Case Study Example For this reason, road signs have been placed by the local authorities to help distinguish the city’s boundaries. Central London is famous for the many squares and terraces of beautiful period houses within it. The region has numerous blocks of ancient flats. Urban development planning in London has been praised for being successful. The foundations of modern London can be traced back to the era between 1919 and 1939 (Budd and Whimster, 1992). According to Budd and Whimster (1992), â€Å"a combination of planning acts, major regional plans and what are now the bases of London Underground Ltd and British Rail Network Southeast structured the roots of the city as it is known today† (p. 279). The Holden and Holford Plan of 1951, Abercrombie Plan of 1944, Forshaw Plan of 1943 and the 1940 Barlow Report contained major plans for the city of London. The framework for the planning of London was set by the Barlow Report. Generally, London has been structured by a division of its central activities. The west part of the city hosts retail, administrative and political activities, while the east hosts commercial activities. Over the years, activities in most cities have shifted and London has not been left behind in this transformation. The city too has experienced a great shift from manufacturing activities to serv ices. In fact, the shift experienced in London is termed to be greater than those in other big cities in Western Europe. During the late twentieth century, London began amending its strategic planning. There has been upgrading of transport and urban planning through Transport for London and the London Plan respectively (Sorensen and Okata, 2011). The London plan is a crucial citywide plan for London while Transport for London is a â€Å"multi-modal transport agency† (Sorensen and Okata, 2011, p. 195).It can be said that London has applied strategic planning to achieve sustainable urban development. In