Decline of the West India Docks
Many cities in high-income countries (HICs) contain old industrial areas that once provided thousands of jobs and then fell into decay. Bringing these areas back to life is one of the biggest challenges urban planners face.
Redeveloping a run-down urban area by modernising old buildings or demolishing and rebuilding them. It usually involves attracting businesses to create jobs and investing in infrastructure such as roads and transport.
Canary Wharf in East London is one of the best-known examples. Today it is a centre of offices and banks, but it was once part of the West India Docks. These were among the busiest docks in the world and employed thousands of workers, many of them people who lived nearby.
The decline happened as a chain of linked events:
- From the 1960s, ships grew larger and switched to containers, which the West India Docks could not handle.
- New docks were built further east, closer to the mouth of the River Thames.
- Dock jobs in East London disappeared.
- With no work in the area, investment dried up.
- Warehouses and terraced houses were left to decay.
- Trade fell to almost nothing, and in 1980 the docks closed and soon became derelict. By 1981 about 60 per cent of the Docklands area was derelict, vacant or under-used. There were few jobs, infrastructure was poor and many homes had only the most basic amenities (running water, sewage disposal and electricity).
- Many residents moved away to find work and a better quality of life.
Each step in the decline made the next one worse. Lost jobs meant less money spent locally, which meant less investment, which led to more decay and more people leaving.
Spotting this kind of downward spiral helps you explain decline rather than just describe it.
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