In 2022 the public was allowed for the first time inside Battersea Power Station, as it was relaunched as a multi-use shopping mall, entertainment destination and office complex. Prior to this, the much-loved brick cathedral had stood empty for over 30 years, a monumental ruin, beloved of film and album-cover-art directors. Yet behind the scenes there was always plenty going on. The building changed hands multiple times as developers staked their fortunes on it, and invariably lost. It was going to be a theme park. A museum of science and industry. A super-sized cinema complex. A home for the Cirque du Soleil. A new stadium for Chelsea football club. Michael Jackson wanted to buy it.

White Elephants and Flying Pigs explores the power station’s history, from conception and construction, through use and obsolescence, into its long years of stagnation. In this book, former workers, politicians, lords, architects, planners, entrepreneurs, urban explorers and makers of inflatable pigs tell the story of this brooding brick hulk. Ultimately, it’s a story about London and the city we would like it to be.

London in 1900 was the greatest city on earth--the capital of an empire on which the sun never set. This book is the first to examine this powerful and influential city at the turn of the century and to investigate its relationship with Britain's far-flung empire. Jonathan Schneer focuses on the diverse, contentious, contradictory personalities of London and its inhabitants, showing the many ways that the empire impinged on them. He describes how a range of citizens--from architects to zoologists, from financiers to striking dockers--helped to define and shape the imperial metropolis. He also shows how the city was influenced by people other than native-born male Anglo-Saxons. Schneer traces the attempts of some of these overlooked peoples to delineate its boundaries: four extraordinary women--two political hostesses, a journalist, and an explorer-ethnologist--as well as anti-imperialist Irish, South Asians, West Indians, and Africans living in London at this time. In a concluding chapter, Schneer examines the general election of 1900 in London, in which the ruling Conservative government successfully defended its imperialist policies. The people of London, says Schneer, made their city and continually remade and reshaped it--as they continue to do today.

Little boy, little boy, what is the matter?
Madam, the sea has been turned into batter!

Eleanor Farjeon’s delightful London nursery rhymes are known and loved all over the world, and told with characteristic humour and playfulness. Reimagine London with these charming and timeless rhymes for all ages.

A charming, surprisingly funny collection that will be loved by adults and children alike.

《伦敦城记》（London: The Biography of a City）是英国著名作家克里斯托弗•希伯特所著城市传记系列中的一册，本书上启古罗马时代、下至20世纪60年代，聚焦伦敦城市发展进程中的重大历史事件、建筑风格和城市建设的变迁、市民的社会生活、社会风俗、城市文化、交通卫生等方面，强调了政治、宗教、经济、战争等因素对城市历史的塑造作用，文字典雅而风趣，引经据典、图文并茂，是历史爱好者的理想读物。在叙述历史的同时，作者也尽力为读者甄别和解说当代仍可供参观的城市古迹，使本书同时也是一本优秀的当代伦敦导览。

《伦敦城市构型形成与发展》主要内容简介：世界著名建筑设计师和城市规划师特里，法雷尔爵士，把那些星星点点的、散布子伦敦全城的构型要素，联合组织起来。创建出一种全新的、动态的大视野。通过考察单体构筑物及其对城市的整体影响，法雷尔给出了一幅激动人心的画幅。展示出这座首都城市混乱而复杂的形态是如何随着时间的延续一层一层地发展的，其中既有自然层次，也有人工层次。有了这一系列的层次关系，使我们得以重新审视这座城市，看一看泰晤士河的天然拐角对人类定居和建造选址的影响，探究、分析泰晤士河上的支流对历史上的边界开发建设（如五月市场和玛丽勒本大地产的衰退等）的影响，分层剖析19世纪看起来似乎无规划的、投机式的基础设施建设，如火车站、运河、地铁线路和污水管道等，是如何以其特有的秩序和形态来构成这座新型都市的基本框架的。书中利用大量地图、历史性照片和绘画以及法雷尔本人的设计草图，拼贴出伦敦的构型和历史，令人激动，令人震撼。沿着泰晤士河，从碧草茵茵的里士满和丘区，到老港区，再到高度工业化的泰晤士河入海口，这些伦敦最著名的地标性场所和景观，对其成因和现状进行了深入挖掘。从伦敦当前城市构型出发，对这座首都城市的增长和未来发展进行了观察和预测。
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Shaping London: The patterns and forms that make the metropolis