- published: 31 Oct 2013
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London i/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
In local government, a city hall, town hall or (more rarely) a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city town or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments, and their employees. It also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county.
By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a single large open chamber (or 'hall') formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the 'town hall', (and its later variant 'city hall') has become synonymous with the whole building, and with the administrative body housed in it. The terms 'council chambers', 'municipal building' or variants may be used locally in preference to 'town hall' if no such large hall is present within the building. Sometimes, like Birmingham Town Hall in the English Midlands, municipal buildings act as a public social venue and as a building completely separate from the administrative centre; Birmingham uses the Council House for local governance.
City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly. It is located in Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It was designed by Norman Foster and opened in July 2002, two years after the Greater London Authority was created.
For the first two years of its existence, the Greater London Authority was based at Romney House, Marsham Street in Westminster. Meetings of the London Assembly took place at Emmanuel Centre, also on Marsham Street.
City Hall was constructed at a cost of £65 million on a site formerly occupied by wharves serving the Pool of London. The building does not belong to the GLA but is leased under a 25-year rent. Despite the name, City Hall is neither located in nor does it serve a city (as recognised by English constitutional law), often adding to the confusion of Greater London with the City of London, whose headquarters is in the Guildhall, north of the Thames. However, in June 2011 Mayor Boris Johnson announced that for the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the building would be called London House, leading to speculation that this name may be retained thereafter.