London as it could be

[Image: London as it could be, courtesy of the Richard Rogers Partnership].

In 1986, the British architect Richard Rogers "put forward a series of visionary, but not impractical, proposals for transforming a large area of central London."
The proposals were called London as it could be.

[Image: London as it could be, courtesy of the Richard Rogers Partnership].

The project "aroused a great deal of public interest," we read, but it was nonetheless "dismissed as impractical by those in power."
This rejection led Rogers to publish "a book (with shadow minister Mark Fisher) critical of government policies and suggesting a series of alternatives. This was a brave move," the Rogers Partnership website states, for it came at a time "when architects were widely seen as mere facilitators of development."
The book – and the project, depicted here – thus "reflected Roger's conviction that the practice of architecture cannot be detached from social and political issues."

[Images: London as it could be, courtesy of the Richard Rogers Partnership].

How turning London into a collection of giant syringes addressed these concerns is perhaps the topic of a future conversation...
A few more images of the project are available here.

(See also A Sketch for London).