Architecture & Shopping in London

Although I like to hear about redevelopment in London, spreading wealth and opportunities across London (and I would like to see this approach on a nationwide scale), I think that, surely, more time and originality could go into new London buildings. Recently in the City of London, we have had (or are in the process of developing) several skyscrapers, including the Shard, Walky-Talky, Cheesegrater, Pinnacle... All given nicknames to try and make them sound interesting, when really they are quite unimaginative towers of glass- interfering with the London skyline. Then, around the Battersea area, all new developments involve glass buildings, such as the new American embassy. The Victoria area is being redeveloped, complete with the Victoria Wedge which, once again, involves whole swathes of glass once again. In East London, the Silvertown area will also be covered in glass buildings. Spotting a pattern? Instead of thoughtful architecture, with many minute details and historical significance (think St Paul's cathedral and the Houses of Parliament); glass buildings are popping up all over London like weeds. But at least they're not as ugly as the old concrete buildings. And they are all being built for the same bland purpose: a combination of apartments (usually sold overseas as investments, doing little to alleviate the city's housing crisis), offices, shops and restaurants.

Having said this, I greatly approve of one of the plans for Silvertown. This involves buildings which will exhibit goods to be purchased online. Seems a common-sense response to online shopping: acknowledging that many purchase their goods online, but equally that many want to "try before they buy" with electric goods, just as they want to with clothes as well. Waterstones would do well to bear this in mind, as many (myself included) want to see what books are like before they buy them. Although I fear that there is little scope for this with CDs and DVDs, so HMV will need to come up with a new technique if they want to succeed, rather than continue to struggle on. Maybe they should allow customers to listen to samples from tracks on a CD or see trailers of DVDs in-store before they purchase them, although YouTube would already provide this function when shopping online...

Either way, on the highstreet, it seems to be survival of the fittest if they are to compete with large Walmart-esque supermarkets that sell everything relatively cheaply, as well as Amazon.