In ten days time (21 April 2020) NLA will publish its Annual Survey of Tall Building in London. The report references studies that have been carried out recently by Tower Hamlets and by the LSE which suggest that people generally find higher density - including tall buildings - an acceptable way of living. But that was before the Corona Virus hit us. During this period of lockdown, I have felt privileged to live in a house with a garden and thought often of those less lucky, living in accommodation with no easy access to open space and fresh air. I have wondered what impact that will have on attitudes to density and to tall buildings.

Historically cities have been pretty unhealthy places but in recent times they have become places where people are generally happier, healthier, wealthier and more fulfilled. This shift in attitudes is evident in the difference between Abercrombie’s Greater London Plan of 1944 and Livingstone’s London Plan of 2000 based on the compact city theories of Lord Richard Rogers and the Urban Task Force. The former depopulated the capital and built new towns around the region - a policy that had its origins in the work of Ebenezer Howard and the Town and Country Planning Association which were themselves a response to the unhealthy environment of the Victorian City.

The compact city works because of better quality homes, better transport, cleaner industries and better sewage systems.

So will the experience of COVID 19 affect the way we think about denser cities? The new London Plan - while accepting that there needs to be greater cooperation with the wider south-east - is still aiming to deliver substantial growth within the Green Belt and is thus still following compact city thinking. But in the light of major disagreements between the Mayor and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government about the Plan what next?

The Government are great believers in the ideas of the Garden City and in ‘Planning for the Future’ published at the beginning of March, Robert Jenrick said that he was backing the Oxford-Cambridge Arc with at least four new development corporations to deliver-environmentally friendly developments. Shades of the New Towns here. Jenrick also called for ‘gentle density’ in outer London as well as a review of the Green Belt. While the new London Plan gave greater powers to local authorities in the location of tall buildings.

At the same time, LSE’s Tony Travers is suggesting that there will be slower growth to London’s population even in the long term as a result of COVID 19.

So as we start to think of the impact of COVID 19 we need to set out the possible future scenarios.

Will Londoners want to emigrate to the suburbs and the home counties as a result of the virus and nervousness that it may come back? Will the slower growth of London mean we will reduce the rate of development and the desire for greater densification? The importance of green space has been highlighted during lockdown, this will surely reinforce the Mayor’s desire to protect open space as well as the Green Belt.

The current fall out between Whitehall and City Hall is, like the impact of COVID 19, unprecedented. So when we emerge from our homes we will be in pretty well unknown territory. Here at NLA, we will be focusing on this debate in the coming months, to keep our members informed and to provide them with a voice. Let us hope that the collaborative spirit between No10 and Sadiq engendered by the current crisis will continue and we can get on with building a better city unhindered by political wrangling.

So we look forward to working with the GLA, the government and the private sector to find the right solutions. We will be engaging with other UK and international cities in dialogue to ensure we take advantage of the best thinking from around the country and the world.