Everything in its right place

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Once upon a time, Deptford (the original Greater Brockley) had parity with Chelsea and St John's Wood in the mental map of London. These 19th Century maps, via Reddit, show London as the postal service viewed it (left) and London as an attempt to regulate taxi fares demarcated the city (right).

What they show is how different London looks if you treat The City of London as the natural centre of the capital. Over the course of the 20th century, London's centre of gravity shifted towards the West End. This century, the pendulum has begun to swing back east, pulled by the rise of Canary Wharf and the development of Shoreditch, Hoxton, Borough and Bermondsey as centres of business, culture and nightlife. As Stratford, the Royal Docks and Greenwich Peninsula take shape and Canary Wharf doubles in size again, our mental maps will begin to look like these once more.

"London as it is" is a flexible concept.