living of cities

The City of London is a geographically-small City within Greater London, England. The City of London is the historic core of London from which, along with Westminster, the modern conurbation grew. The City’s boundaries have remained constant since the Middle Ages, and hence it is now only a tiny part of Greater London. city.jpgThe City of London is now a major financial centre, and is Europe’s second largest “central business district” (CBD) and financial district. It is often referred to as just the City or as the Square Mile, as it is approximately one square mile (2.6 km²) in area; note that these terms are also often used as metonyms for the UK financial services industry, which is principally based there. In the medieval period the City was the full extent of London (as distinct from the nearby but then-separate village of Westminster), but the term London now refers to a much larger conurbation containing both ‘cities’. The City of London is still part of London’s city centre, but apart from financial services, most of London’s metropolitan functions are centred on the West End . The City of London has a resident population of under 10,000 but a daily working population of 311,000.

The City itself has two independent enclaves within it —Inner Temple and Middle. These two areas form part of the City and Ceremonial county, but are not governed by the City of London Corporation. The Corporation governs the rest of the City and also owns various open spaces (parks, forests and commons) in and around London.

The size of the City was originally constrained by a defensive perimeter wall, known as ‘London Wall’, which was built by the Romans to protect their strategic port city. However, the boundaries of the City of London are no longer the old City Wall as the city expanded its jurisdiction to the so-called City Bars — such as Temple Bar. The boundary froze in the medieval period, thus the City did not and does not control the whole of London.

The walls have long since disappeared although several sections remain visible above ground. A section near the Museum of London was revealed after the devastation of an air-raid on 29 December 1940 at the height of the Blitz. Other visible sections are at St Alphage, London Wall, and there are two sections near the Tower of London.

The City of London borders the City of Westminster to the west — the border cutting through Victoria Embankment, passing to the west of Middle Temple, going east along Stand and Fleet Street, north up Chancery Lane, where it becomes instead the border with the London Borough of Camden. It continues north to Holborn, turns east, continues, and then goes northeast to Charterhouse Lane. As it crosses Farringdon Road it becomes the border with the London Borough of Islington. It continues to Aldersgate, goes north, and turns into some back streets soon after it becomes Goswell Road. It ends up on Ropemakers Lane, which as it continues east past Moorgate becomes South Place. It goes north, becomes the border with the London Borough of Hackney, then east, north, east on backstreets, meeting Norton Folgate at the border with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It continues south into Bishopsgate, and takes some backstreets to Middlesex Street where it continues south-east then south. It makes a divergence to the west at the end of Middlesex Street to allow the Tower of London to be in Tower Hamlets, and then reaches the river. The boundaries of the City are marked by black bollards bearing the City’s emblem. (boundary map). In some places the financial district extends slightly beyond the political boundaries of the City to the north and east, into the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Islington, and informally these locations are seen as part of the “Square Mile”. Since the 1990s the eastern fringe of the City, extending into Hackney and Tower Hamlets, has increasingly been a focus for large office developments due to the relatively easy availability of large sites there compared to within the City itself.

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