We’re in danger of losing our city bit by bit to pristine private spaces that suffocate public life. It began with Canary Wharf, you can see it at places like the O2, Westfield, Granary Square and More London at London Bridge. They’ve become privately policed areas where you’re only welcome if what you do pleases the owners. The next chunk to fall down this hole is the proposed garden bridge.
It sounds wonderful — a pocket park to rival New York’s immensely popular high line, a linear park made from a disused elevated railway. A delicate flower in the middle of the rough and tumble city. It’s intended to span from Temple to the Southbank. The concept of a part park part bridge is wonderful. Mile End park features a bridge which connects its two sections, a special feature that feels exciting because the form is so unusual. The problem with the garden bridge has much more to do with the manner of its creation — vanity and greed.
Parks have been for a long time entirely public places. The only restrictions on them are those that protect the rights of others to have a good time. The garden bridge will be owned and managed by The Garden Bridge Trust. Restrictions include “any exercise other than jogging, playing a musical instrument, taking part in a gathering of any kind, giving a speech or address, scattering ashes, releasing a balloon and flying a kite.” There will be a private police force with the legal power to issue fines and require your name and address. The bridge would be closed at night, for private events and at the arbitrary whim of the managers.
Ok, so maybe it’s not the freest place, but it’s a corporate gift right? A self-starter that will pay for itself. It was announced back in 2010 that the £25 million cost of Boris’s cable car would be covered by an airline. It wasn’t in the end and an extra £24 million was shelled out by the taxpayer. The funding for the garden bridge is rather similar. In spite of partial public funding, the bridge will be operated by the Trust, who will be the beneficiary of the income when the bridge is closed to the public for private events. When local government collaborates with private developers, it tends to be the developer that makes off with the loot.
Can you imagine any other piece of transport infrastructure being treated in this way. The northern line being closed for a Goldman Sachs bash? Common and free land is an essential resource for the healthy functioning of a city. It’s where we meet, share ideas, do things that we feel that don’t hurt anyone. London like many great cities has grown up around the river, one of the greatest natural commons there is.
It’s only a small part of the city, for now. But the number of spaces being sold off by councils or developed in this way is increasing. In thirty years we might see a city clogged with pseudo-public spaces. Areas of land without physical borders where people gather, but with rules imposed arbitrarily by the owner. Their main desire is to avoid any behaviour that might cause a fuss without profit. The problem is that fuss is often part of life. Politics is the resolution of conflicts between people, and this is performed as much in the street as it is in parliament.
I was in Granary Square recently observing some students from Central St Martins taking photos. One of them sat in a chair while a couple of others took photos with a camera on a tripod. They didn’t get long before a woman in a high-viz jacket and red cap marched up to them and commanded them to stop. They certainly weren’t doing any harm in the deserted square. It was a completely pointless exercise of power that served only to make their project slightly more difficult. If we’re not careful we’ll end up with a clean, tidy city, but entirely lifeless one.
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