Title

REGENERATION

Creating workable cities

As London boroughs strive to increase housing, industrial land is disappearing. A workable city needs to be a jigsaw of mixed use, says Patricia Brown.

(c) rightclickstudios / Shutterstock

It was a good news and bad news email, notifying me that my Bermondsey storage facility – a five-minute cycle away – was set to close. It was proposed to transfer my belongings to King's Cross, more than four miles away. The branch, the email continued, will be shuttered by the end of February to make way for the next stage of a housing development.

I only took the unit as a short-term domestic fix, so it meant a long overdue deep clear out. For other users, it is more existential, since it is not just a place to store extra dining chairs or out of season clothes. It is a thriving part of a business ecosystem, a hive of activity.

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