If in doubt about the authorship of some obscure new office building, presume it is by Norman Foster's office. The City, especially, has numerous buildings by his design teams including the iconic Swiss Re tower - an enigmatic skyscraper sitting opposite Rogers' equally iconic '86 Lloyds building - and at least six other buildings of note. (In turn, Rogers also has Lloyds Register of Shipping, 88 Wood Street, and a new building at St Katherine's Dock.) Overall, the 'Square Mile' is a marvellous example of history and renewal proceeding hand in hand and possibly the most architecturally interesting and dense part of the capital.

At the other end of the socio-economic spectrum London can offer other, contrasting recent projects such as David Adjaye's Idea Store in Mile End (actually a library), near to Brick Lane, also near Will Alsop'smicrobiological research building in the east End. Alsop also has an outstanding nursery in north London (Fawood Nursery), near to Foster's Wembly Stadium.

The Millennium Projects of a few years ago gave Londoners some important cultural projects such as the Tate Modern, alterations to the Tate Britain, the Millennium Bridge, and the London Eye. These projects now include additional work at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and the Royal Academy, together with a host of smaller arts venues (the Geffrye Museum, the Gagosian Gallery, Victoria Miro Gallery, Cube , etc.) that make London an inspiring place for the architect or enthusiast to visit. Most of these gallery projects are renovations and extensions.

Urban renewal is a major theme of this dynamic of change.
Projects in the former Docklands and at Canary Wharf are particularly salient. Canary is the size of a small city in itself and its second phase has been witness to its transformation into a vibrant peculiarity now with hints of organicity.

On the other side of London, along the Euston and Marylebone Roads in the West End, huge new redevelopments have been taking place at Kings Cross and Paddington Basin. Meanwhile, the City itself continues to change in facinating ways that marry history with change and adaptation. Here, a renewed interest in the skyscraper has initiated new debate about London's skyline. Major change began with the Swiss Re tower, but there are now plans for more towers that will alter views over the city forever: the 50-storey Minerva Tower, the 48-storey building by Rogers, in Leadenhall, and the 'Shard of Glass' proposed at London Bridge. Because of the St Paul's sight-lines from high points around London, these towers will tend to be in the same location, forming a group immediately to the north and east of Lloyds.

Other project types have been springing up all over London. These include new nurseries, secondary schools, university buildings, medical buildings (such as Alsop's Microbiological research building; and the Evelina Children's Hospital and the Wellcome Gibbs building, both by Hopkins) in addition to numerous new housing projects exhibiting a radical change in English tastes and modes of housing provision in the last ten years.

The announcement by the IOC that London will be Olympic city in 2012 has been a major boost for London' sEast End and will be a catalyst to extensive development and regeneration of an area that is one of the most rundown in the city. And, also in the east, there is Europe’s largest and most ambitious regeneration initiative ‘The Thames Gateway Development’ - which extends from Tower Bridge eastwards to Thurrock and Dartford. Extensive and strategic plans for communities are planned and the development will now gain a new impetus and vibrancy due to the 2012 win. This development work will be the culmination of 35 years of regeneration within the Docklands area.

Midst this dynamic is a politics of redevelopment that has a Mayorial programme of schemes to improve London's infrastructure and to make its many minor places and spaces better places to live and share together.