The Mayor’s London Plan – the capital’s spatial and urban development strategy – has a dedicated chapter with new policies to safeguard and grow culture and heritage across London. It is for this reason that the Mayor’s 2018 Culture Strategy, ‘Culture for All Londoners’ made cultural inclusion central to its vision. The strategy has four priorities: for more citizens to experience and create culture on their doorstep supporting, saving and sustaining cultural places investing in a diverse creative workforce for the future and promoting London as a global creative powerhouse. These are demographic but also geographic – some of the town centres in outer London have large populations but with very poor arts and cultural provision. Some 27% of Londoners live in poverty, the highest rates in the UK, while research shows that London also has some of the greatest disparities in cultural participation. Its creative vitality, cultural diversity and heritage is a key reason why London attracts millions of visitors every year, many of whom flock to some of the most popular museums in the world, including the British Museum, Tate Modern and the National Gallery.īut for all its economic success and cultural renown, London is a city of stark inequalities.

This covers a broad range of strengths, including film and television, fashion, publishing, music and design, alongside an increasingly vibrant tech industry. It is one of the world’s pre-eminent centres of financial and business services, and also the cultural and creative industries. After the loss of Britain’s industrial base, London retained its economic and cultural dynamism through its advanced services industries. Today it has a population of nine million and with a diversity that reflects its global economic role and identity: 37% of Londoners were born outside of the UK, 40% of Londoners identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, and there are over 300 languages spoken. The impact of Britain’s early industrial revolution meant that London was the world’s largest city throughout most of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Founded by the Romans two thousand years ago, London has long been a major world city, with connections developed over centuries through international trade.

Why is london considered a global city