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The London mayor wants to build an enormous monument in Stratford. It sounds like a folly of Olympic proportions

You need to pinch and punch yourself to be sure this isn't 1 April. News that Boris Johnson is planning to build a £15m monument, in what appears to be his own honour – it couldn't be London's – in the grounds of the 2012 Austerity Olympics in Stratford, must surely be a joke. This is the kind of thing you'd expect from a Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il or, of course Shelley's "Ozymandias" (Ramesses the Great), but not an elected mayor of London in the second decade of the 21st century.

The tower is, apparently, to be funded by the richest man in Britain, Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian-born steel magnate. The Telegraph of Calcutta has understandably dubbed the potty project the Mittal Monument, rather than the more appropriate Johnson's Folly, and has published an artist's impression of the proposal in the guise of an enormous, rust-red electricity pylon – a symbol, I suppose, of how Britain's attitude to industry and the economy in general, is viewed by more dynamic countries overseas.

It's hard to know if the Indian newspaper is taking the mickey or not, and indeed hard to believe that Johnson or his press department can be serious. This is especially true when Johnson talks of building a monument to rival the Eiffel tower, the showpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle and, ever since, a popular symbol of Paris. The Eiffel tower cost around 8 million francs, or at least £33m in today's figures, although given absolute increases over the ensuing 120 years in the prices of labour and materials, the cost of building a new Eiffel tower would be very much higher than this. The London Eye, completed a decade ago, cost £75m, which suggests an Eiffel tower would be more expensive again, and so, no matter how generous, Mittal's £15m won't go far to meet Johnson's vaulting ambition.

London, and its mayors, should have learned from the mistakes of such inane follies as the £1bn Millennium Experience to steer well clear of overweening monumentalism. London is a city of many modest monuments, from the City churches of Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke and Nicholas Hawksmoor to the 1930s underground stations commissioned by Frank Pick, chief executive of the London Passenger Transport Board from the architect Charles Holden, two modest men who turned down knighthoods and were paid no bonuses for the great contribution they made to the workings and appearance of everyday London.

It seems significant, too, that this year's Stirling prize for architecture, an event taken seriously by those keen on the most fashionable contemporary landmark buildings, was awarded not to a monumental building but to the gentle and subtle Maggie's Centre, for cancer care, by London's Charing Cross hospital. Times have clearly changed, although not, it seems, for the mayor of London.

Perhaps, though, Johnson's head has been turned as much by Mittal's millions, as by a joint initiative between the Arts Council and London 2012 that also seems like one monumental joke. This initiative is called – and I'm not making this up, I hope – "Artists taking the lead" – although you may want to replace the final word with another of four letters. In this case, £5.4m is to be spent on 12 "extraordinary artworks" up and down the country to celebrate the 2012 Olympics. Announced on 21 October, the magnificent dozen includes three hand-crocheted 30ft lions for Nottingham, a "monumental spinning column of cloud and light" in Birkenhead and a gigantic Lady Godiva puppet for the west Midlands. Meanwhile, "an abandoned DC-9 aeroplane will 'nest' in locations across Wales, and be transformed and animated the local communities who take ownership of it."

Given all this, and still being unsure of whether or not Johnson or the Arts Council is being in any way serious, I recommend that Mark Wallinger's giant white horse should be erected not in Ebbsfleet, Kent, but in the Olympic park and named "Maybe it's a big horse ... I'm a Londoner" in honour of Johnson and the great 2012 event. Either that, or perhaps Mittal could be persuaded to stump up for a giant white elephant with the head of Mayor Johnson crowned with the satirical 2012 London Olympics logo.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Art, Art and design, Boris Johnson, Comment, guardian.co.uk, London, Olympic games 2012, UK news

Sri Carmichael and Mira Bar-Hillel:

The clash between the Labour government, which opposes high rise, and the Mayor, who has become a convert to new building projects, has ended in a planning stalemate as the recession bites. At least 21 London property schemes could be scrapped or dramatically shrunk.

There follows a telling round-up of the capital's stunted tower projects, each a tale of crunched credit or obstruction of Boris by Blears. What interests me - because I can't yet detect one - is the guiding principle behind the Mayor's policy on towers. He's said yes to them more often than his critics would like, yet he's just said no to Rafael Vinoly's intended 300 metre-tall glass chimney on the site of Battersea power station. Building Design and Construction reports:

After opposition from local residents and Johnson, REO, which is 67% owned by the Treasury, has decided to replace the dome with individual canopies covering the buildings and abandon plans for the tower, which would have been one of the tallest structures in London.

The Mayor's office emphasises that Boris isn't against tall buildings where they are "appropriate". But what does "appropriate" mean?

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London, London politics

Amanda Baillieu:

Just as green belt land is often ordinary farmland with no special claim to preservation, we need to ask why we are protecting particular views that — with some notable exceptions — are no more special than others. Of course no one can not enjoy seeing St Paul's from the top of Primrose Hill or Richmond Park, but why is this more special than the view from the terrace of the National Theatre?

Now read on.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London politics

At Building, Michael Willoughby:

Mayor Boris Johnson attacked his workplace, the 2002 Greater London Authority (GLA) building, as one of the worst in London shortly before handing its developer a planning award.

Love it. Now read on.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London, London politics

Simon Jenkins in the Standard:

Boris Johnson swore that he would rescind Livingstone's towers. He told all comers that he would "stop the madness". Yet no sooner was he in "the testicle" than he craved a phallus. The developer lobbyists got to him and undermined his self-confidence.

The Mayor, of course, doesn't see it quite that way. Whatever, Jenkins might reflect that several boroughs have lobbied for towers too and that he, like Boris, spoke during the election campaign in favour of boroughs being free from bossy mayors. You can't have it both ways.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London, London politics

An Evening Standard leader:

Boris Johnson's policy of restricting approval for tall buildings in London to limited areas was once a fundamental element of his approach to planning. But his approval for tall buildings in Wandsworth and Ealing, areas without existing clusters of blocks, suggests an approach more like the ad-hoc policy of his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, who took a notoriously lax attitude to skyscrapers. Now Mr Johnson has a chance to show whether his planning policy for our skyline has rigour or consistency.

A new proposal for The Spires, three enormous tower blocks right by City Hall, is being submitted for approval. It would be hard to justify. The tallest of the three would reportedly offer views of the English Channel; together they would interfere with the Mayor's own views. In a downturn, there is little economic rationale for projects like this; aesthetically, there is even less. Mr Johnson should say no.

Wow, Veronica really has left the building hasn't she? No wonder Boris is putting on a Russian festival, of which he says:

Russian Londoners are a thriving community who have made a significant contribution to the capital both economically and culturally. I encourage everyone to come and enjoy this fantastic festival offering.

Are you listening, Alexander?

More on The Spires and other Irvine Sellar proposals for central London here.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London, London politics

Sir Simon Milton, interviewed in Building:

Boris' legacy will be the creation of a distinctive architecture for London. A kind of architectural vernacular, especially for housing, that is definitely London.

For Milton on the "affordable" target, the mayor's use of strategic powers and charging developers for Crossrail, read on.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, Housing, London, London politics, Transport policy

Well, what do you know? Regen Daily reports:

Boris Johnson has agreed to back Rafael Vinoly's design for a 38-storey tower, subject to a series of minor revisions. Dubbed the Walkie Talkie, the Land Securities development is planned for 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London.

With some of Boris's other green lights to tall buildings, you can see how he might deny breaking his pledge to restrict their proliferation (I'd link to the relevant bit of his manifesto, but still no-one has revived his campaign site. Come on, Alex or whoever in Team Boris is suppose to be on the case. This is a democracy, you know).

Most have been out of the centre of town, and blocking the Doon Street tower would have meant a lot of grief. But the Walkie-Talkie was mocked by the very traditionalists whose tastes he aligned himself with. I don't get this one at all. Will seek clarification.

Update, 12.46: I didn't need to seek clarification. It arrived all by itself, in the form of a phone call from one of the mayor's press officers. The thing is, he explained, Boris was in no position to stop the Walkie-Talkie being built because the basic plan had already been given the go-ahead under Ken Livingstone. All Boris has given his blessing to are some small changes that the developers wanted to make and, in any case, the building would not have been at odds with his definition of an appropriate location for a new tall building.

So there we have it. I am grateful and I have a great deal to learn. That said, if Boris still wants to be seen as a maoyr who stops tall buildings appearing all over the place, he must be wishing a few more people would come up with ideas for them that a) he doesn't approve of, and b) he's in a position to say no to. Just a thought.

Update, 16.24: And there's another angle.

The Sheet Architecture News Architecture, Blogposts, Boris Johnson, guardian.co.uk, London, London politics