TheGreater London Built-up Area, orGreater London Urban Area, is aconurbation in south-eastEngland that constitutes the continuousurban sprawl ofLondon, and includes surrounding adjacent urban towns as defined by theOffice for National Statistics.[1] It is the largesturban area in theUnited Kingdom with a population of 9,787,426 in 2011.[1]
The Greater London Built-up or Urban Area had a population of 9,787,426 and occupied an area of 1,737.9 square kilometres (671.0 sq mi) at the time of the 2011 census.[1]
It includes most of theLondon region – omitting most of its woodland; small,buffered districts; theLee Valley Park; and the two largest sewage treatment works serving London by theRiver Thames. Outside the region's administrative boundary, it includes contiguous suburban settlements and a few densely populatedoutliers connected to it byribbon development. Its outer boundary is constrained by theMetropolitan Green Belt and it is therefore much smaller than thewider metropolitan area of London.[citation needed]
As a selective grouping of relatively low- to mid-density (and some high-density)output areas, each consisting of roughly 120 households,[2] it can be compared to the London region, which covers 1,572 square kilometres (607 sq mi) and contained 8,173,194 residents at the time of the 2011 census.
The built-up area of the Greater London region continues beyond the region's administrative boundary in some places, while stopping short of it in others. For this reason, the density of the Greater London Built-Up Area is 8.3% higher than that of Greater London, the figure for which includes these outlying rural areas (notably inHillingdon,Enfield,Havering andBromley). All of both areas are drained ultimately by theRiver Thames. The area uses around 4gigawatts of electricity power.[3]
The density gradient ofindustrialising cities has tended to follow a specific pattern: the density of the centre of the city would rise duringurbanisation and the population would remain heavily concentrated in the city centre with a rapid decline in settlement towards the periphery. Then, with continued economic growth and the expanding networks ofpublic transport, people (particularly themiddle-class) would then slowly migrate towards the suburbs, gradually softening the population density gradient. This point was generally reached when the city reached a certain stage of economic development. In London, this point was reached in the first half of the nineteenth century, inParis towards the end of the century and inNew York City at the turn of the twentieth.[4]
However, London had been sprawling out of its medieval confines within theCity since the eighteenth century, when the city experienced its first great urban surge. Areas to the west ofWestminster were increasingly built up for the wealthy, to live in the suburbs of the city.
A dramatic increase in the city'surban sprawl began in the nineteenth century when labourers flocked from the countryside to work in the new factories that were then springing up. Large developments of smallterraced houses began to appear and the new public transport systems – (the Tube,buses andtrams) – allowed workers to commute into the city daily.[5] Suburban districts also sprung up around the city centre to accommodate those who wanted to escape the squalid conditions of the industrial town.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the first major suburban areas were springing up aroundLondon as the city (then the largest in the world) became more overcrowded and unsanitary. A major catalyst in the growth in urban sprawl came from the opening of theMetropolitan Railway in the 1860s. The line joined the capital's financial heart inthe City to what were to become the suburbs ofMiddlesex.[6]Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line eventually extended as far asVerney Junction inBuckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Baker Street and the centre of London.
Unlike other railway companies, which were required to dispose of surplus land, the Met was allowed to retain such land that it believed was necessary for future railway use.[a] Initially, the surplus land was managed by the Land Committee,[8] and, from the 1880s, the land was developed and sold to domestic buyers in places like Willesden Park Estate, Cecil Park, nearPinner and at Wembley Park. In 1919, with the expectation of a post-war housing boom,[9] Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited was formed and went on to develop estates atKingsbury Garden Village nearNeasden,Wembley Park, Cecil Park and Grange Estate atPinner and the Cedars Estate atRickmansworth and create places such asHarrow Garden Village.[9][10]
.png)
By the early twentieth century, amid increasingmiddle-class affluence, large low-density suburbs ofsemi-detached houses had sprung up all around the city, doubling the area of built-up London in theinterwar period alone, even though the city's population only increased by 10% in the same time.H. G. Wells even predicted in 1902 that within a hundred years most of southern England would have been subsumed into one giganticconurbation centred in London.
At the time of the 2011 Census, the Office for National Statistics defined the Greater London Urban Area as being made up of the following components:[1]
The London region consists of 33 districts: theCity of London, the 12Inner London boroughs (including theCity of Westminster), and the 20Outer London boroughs.
|
Berkshire[edit] | Essex[edit]
| Kent[edit]
|
In the 2011 census, the following areas were considered to be built-up areas but outside the Greater London Built-up Area, despite being withinGreater London. All of these areas had populations of less than a thousand exceptNew Addington BUA andHarefield BUA which had populations of 22,280[13] and 6,573[14] respectively.[1] Note that these are Built-up areas as defined byOffice for National Statistics[15] and will have different boundaries from the settlements after which they are named.
At the time of the 2001 Census, the Office for National Statistics defined the Greater London Urban Area as being made up of the following components:
Within the region, there were 33 components corresponding to the City of London and the London boroughs. However, the ONS boundaries are not identical to the local authority boundaries, and outlying areas such asBiggin Hill in Bromley are omitted.[16]
South East England | East of England
|
4,000MW. That is almost enough electricity to power Greater London
51°30′26″N0°07′40″W / 51.5073°N 0.1277°W /51.5073; -0.1277
