London
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London is the capital and largest city of the Thames Republic, with a population of 253 million people in 2273. Expanding rapidly over the 22nd and 23rd centuries, the city's urban area has grown to encompass the entire area of the M25 orbital, and neighbouring cities have been brought into the wider metropolitan area, making it one of the largest in Europe. Previously under the control of Great Britain, the city gained independence alongside the majority of Southern England during the London Revolution that took place in 2052. It is surrounded at the north by the Southern Exclusion Zone, which creates a barrier between it and the rest of the island.
London | |
|---|---|
Capital city | |
 Flag | |
 Map of the Greater London administrative area, encompassing the City of London and 32 additional boroughs | |
  London Location within Europe | |
| Coordinates: 51°30′26″N 0°7′39″W / 51.50722°N 0.12750°W | |
| Country | Thames Republic |
| Region | London |
| Settled by Romans | AD 47, as Londinium |
| Administrative HQ | City Hall, Newham |
| Local government | 32 London boroughs, the City of London and Queen's Park parish |
| Government | |
| • Type | Executive mayoralty and deliberative assembly |
| • Body | Greater London Authority |
| • Mayor | Edward Osborne (S) |
| • London Assembly | 14 constituencies |
| Area | |
• Total | 4,940.60 km2 (1,907.58 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 5,214 km2 (2,013 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 58,674 km2 (22,654 sq mi) |
| Population (2273) | |
• Total | 253,000,000 |
| • Rank |
|
| • Density | 75,166/km2 (194,680/sq mi) |
| • Urban (2273) | 267,000,000 |
| • Metro (2273) | 387,000,000 |
| Demonyms | Londoner |
| Morphology | |
| • Morphological groups | List
|
| Time zone | UTC |
| Postcode areas | 22 areas
|
| Dialling codes |
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| GeoTLD | .london |
| Website | london |
State
Conflict
War has taken its toll on the city - fighting during the London Revolution heavily damaged commercial districts, and many of the towers in its central areas. For a time after the London Revolution, the city ran regular drills for all citizens to prepare for the potential for a WMD strike by the British government. These drills, and associated wartime security measures, have since been withdrawn due to cooling of the global political landscape and the establishment of a ceasefire between Great Britain and the Thames Republic.
Climate Crisis
Rising sea levels and storms created by climate change have swept across London, irrevocably changing the city despite last-ditch efforts put in place to slow their effects. The flooding of boroughs such as Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Hammersmith, and Greenwich has resulted in the raising of street levels, burying the original first few floors of buildings underground, as well as the establishment of a vast network of canals that now serve both an aesthetic purpose and to exist in drainage during weather events. The City itself has remained relatively undamaged, but massive changes have been made to incorporate flood management infrastructure, and its drainage systems have been significantly upgraded.
Due to the intensity of inclement weather increasing drastically over the years - including intense hurricanes and thunderstorms, "storm hardening" above-ground structures has become a necessity. Many homes and businesses have been flooded or destroyed by the harmful effects of storms, since conventional British designs never foresaw this level of severity.
Defence
Due to the city's status as one of the most important technological centres on Earth, it is a prime target for hostile forces, including megacorporations conducting espionage operations and extremist groups. For this reason, it has an assortment of intrinsic security countermeasures, including comprehensive surveillance, automatic anti-personnel sentry turrets at street level, rapidly deployable emergency security teams, and a fortified border that surrounds the entire city that can be locked down in periods of crisis.
The city is equipped to deal with an anomaly presence or individuals carrying anomalous weaponry, which includes protocols to ensure citizens shelter in place and turn off radio frequency transmitters until a Department for Exophysics team arrives to handle the threat. All residential buildings are equipped with underground bunkers or are in range of communal shelters, equipped with anti-anomaly shielding that closes automatically in the event of a city-wide lockdown.
Transportation
Public Transport
The city is interconnected internally and externally with an extremely extensive system of trains facilitated by Transport for London, which comprises rapid transit services like the Underground and Overground services as well as heavy rail services branded as Thames Interlink. Efficient buses compensate for the few locations where rail connections are missing, and commuter boats and ferries provide transportation up and down the Thames. Since the passing of the Rail Regulation Act, all methods of public transportation have been made free of charge.
Private Transport
Road-based private transportation methods in the city are heavily discouraged, and in most cases have been banned outright by the Transport Act. Vehicles have been completely eliminated in most areas of the city, and are generally only permitted to be used by authorities or for essential transportation of disabled passengers.
Air and Space
The city is well-connected to aerospace transportation, with Heathrow Spaceport and Stansted Spaceport serving international, interplanetary, and interstellar flights, and Luton and City airports facilitating domestic and short-distance international flights.