For much of the past decade, “authenticity” has been one of the most overused words in London’s development vocabulary. It has been applied to street names, material palettes and meanwhile uses, often as shorthand for character or charm. But authenticity is not a design feature. It is not something that can be specified in a planning document or curated into existence by a single landowner. It is the product of life, layered use and time.
It’s why the world comes to London.
