The London skyline is set to change dramatically as local authorities respond to the calls in the London Plan for tall buildings to house a growing office and residential population. Developers are drafting in star architects to help meet the criteria of design excellence for the new towers, and many of the proposed buildings have won critical acclaim. But there is mounting concern that a lack of co-ordination over what is being proposed could create blight for decades to come.

This topic is of such huge importance to the future of the capital, that much of this issue of LPR is devoted to it. We talk to the developer behind the tallest tower in the country, the Shard, and discover how he lured Renzo Piano to London. We survey the complexity of the planning process and suggest an alternative approach that looks beyond the impact of each building individually. We also talk to the planners at Southwark, where more towers are proposed.

“London is too important a city to be designed blindfold,” Rowan Moore writes in these pages suggesting that current strategies are insufficient.