Gentrification, Displacement, and the Impacts of Council Estate Renewal in C21st London
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Geog, Geol & the Environment
Abstract
England's council estates are facing a 'new' urban renewal that threatens to repeat many of the mistakes of post-war urban renewal, which disrupted local communities and exacerbated the social problems slum clearance was meant to solve. Now it is large inner city estates that ministers are slating for demolition and redevelopment as new 'mixed communities', in which social housing is interspersed with luxury developments sold on for profit at market prices.
With the nation's highest land values and greatest housing pressure, London is at the forefront of this 'new' urban renewal. While proponents of estate renewal see it as a way to address deprivation on socially polarised estates and increase the housing supply without public funding, critics charge that it amounts to gentrification by stealth insofar as estate renewal will inevitably see middle class professional groups displace from the inner city the low income and working-class populations that council housing has long provided for.
Despite worries, even from Boris Johnson, about the prospect of 'Kosovo-style social cleansing' from inner London, the overall extent of both direct and indirect displacement of working class populations from London has yet to be ascertained. Moreover, little is known about the consequences of estate renewal schemes for those involved, despite widely-voiced concerns that this may be disrupting and breaking-up cohesive and resilient working class populations.
This research will address gaps in knowledge about gentrification, displacement and the impacts of estate renewal in London. Working closely with tenants groups and other local stakeholders, it will combine large -scale statistical analysis to measure the scale and patterns of gentrification and associated displacement of working/servicing class populations from London with more intensive, case study methods to document the impacts of urban renewal schemes on individual estates, their residents, the communities across the Southeast to which they are being displaced, and the new 'mixed' communities emerging on redeveloped council estates in London.
As well as contributing to academic knowledge about the processes of gentrification and displacement, the research will also make a tangible impact on 3 major groups of beneficiaries that we will engage with in different ways.
First, residents of council estates facing urban renewal programmes will be supported with an advice handbook and other support to help them organise to ensure that future estate regeneration schemes are conducted in ways that benefit, rather than displace, existing residents.
Second, developers/Registered Social Landlords involved in estate regeneration will receive a systematic assessment of the impacts of London's estate renewal schemes. This will enable future redevelopments to be planned so as to mitigate displacement and other negative impacts, both on estate residents and their communities in London and on the recipient communities to which estate residents have often been displaced.
Finally, the project will also help shape the future policy agenda in the UK and beyond through a series of planned policy engagement activities and briefings, conducted in collaboration with the GLA, to inform the specific policy guidance and practices involved in council estate renewal planning,
To reach more general public audiences research will also be publicised through social media (e.g. Twitter) and through an associated website and blog which will link to research outputs. In addition we will work with David Modell (see letter of support) on a Channel 4 documentary on gentrification and displacement due to council estate renewal in London, and the research will also be fed through to Off Stage, so that they can work on a theatre production (which as in their previous production will include tenants themselves) (see letter of support).
With the nation's highest land values and greatest housing pressure, London is at the forefront of this 'new' urban renewal. While proponents of estate renewal see it as a way to address deprivation on socially polarised estates and increase the housing supply without public funding, critics charge that it amounts to gentrification by stealth insofar as estate renewal will inevitably see middle class professional groups displace from the inner city the low income and working-class populations that council housing has long provided for.
Despite worries, even from Boris Johnson, about the prospect of 'Kosovo-style social cleansing' from inner London, the overall extent of both direct and indirect displacement of working class populations from London has yet to be ascertained. Moreover, little is known about the consequences of estate renewal schemes for those involved, despite widely-voiced concerns that this may be disrupting and breaking-up cohesive and resilient working class populations.
This research will address gaps in knowledge about gentrification, displacement and the impacts of estate renewal in London. Working closely with tenants groups and other local stakeholders, it will combine large -scale statistical analysis to measure the scale and patterns of gentrification and associated displacement of working/servicing class populations from London with more intensive, case study methods to document the impacts of urban renewal schemes on individual estates, their residents, the communities across the Southeast to which they are being displaced, and the new 'mixed' communities emerging on redeveloped council estates in London.
As well as contributing to academic knowledge about the processes of gentrification and displacement, the research will also make a tangible impact on 3 major groups of beneficiaries that we will engage with in different ways.
First, residents of council estates facing urban renewal programmes will be supported with an advice handbook and other support to help them organise to ensure that future estate regeneration schemes are conducted in ways that benefit, rather than displace, existing residents.
Second, developers/Registered Social Landlords involved in estate regeneration will receive a systematic assessment of the impacts of London's estate renewal schemes. This will enable future redevelopments to be planned so as to mitigate displacement and other negative impacts, both on estate residents and their communities in London and on the recipient communities to which estate residents have often been displaced.
Finally, the project will also help shape the future policy agenda in the UK and beyond through a series of planned policy engagement activities and briefings, conducted in collaboration with the GLA, to inform the specific policy guidance and practices involved in council estate renewal planning,
To reach more general public audiences research will also be publicised through social media (e.g. Twitter) and through an associated website and blog which will link to research outputs. In addition we will work with David Modell (see letter of support) on a Channel 4 documentary on gentrification and displacement due to council estate renewal in London, and the research will also be fed through to Off Stage, so that they can work on a theatre production (which as in their previous production will include tenants themselves) (see letter of support).
Planned Impact
This project will provide vital evidence about the scale of the displacements being caused by new, ongoing programmes of urban renewal on London's council estates and the wide-ranging impacts--on residents, on source communities, and on the places to which those displaced by redevelopment have been decanted.
As detailed in our Pathways to impact plan, research is designed to make a tangible impact on 3 major groups of beneficiaries that we will engage with in different ways:
1) Residents of council estates facing urban renewal programmes will be supported with an advice handbook and other support to help them organise to ensure that future estate regeneration schemes are conducted in ways that benefit, rather than displace, existing residents. Engagement work here will be facilitated through our close collaboration with project partners from the London Tenants Federation and Just Space, while the involvement of Platform 7 in an 'art-intervention' will help engage communities beyond London indirectly impacted by displacement from estate renewal.
2) Developers/Registered Social Landlords involved in estate regeneration will receive a systematic assessment of the impacts of London's estate renewal schemes. This will enable future redevelopments to be planned so as to mitigate displacement and other negative impacts, both on estate residents and their communities in London and on the recipient communities to which estate residents have often been displaced.
3) Local, national, and international policymakers will be helped to shape future policy agendas on estate renewal and urban regeneration through a series of planned policy engagement activities and briefings, conducted in collaboration with the GLA.
As detailed in our Pathways to impact plan, research is designed to make a tangible impact on 3 major groups of beneficiaries that we will engage with in different ways:
1) Residents of council estates facing urban renewal programmes will be supported with an advice handbook and other support to help them organise to ensure that future estate regeneration schemes are conducted in ways that benefit, rather than displace, existing residents. Engagement work here will be facilitated through our close collaboration with project partners from the London Tenants Federation and Just Space, while the involvement of Platform 7 in an 'art-intervention' will help engage communities beyond London indirectly impacted by displacement from estate renewal.
2) Developers/Registered Social Landlords involved in estate regeneration will receive a systematic assessment of the impacts of London's estate renewal schemes. This will enable future redevelopments to be planned so as to mitigate displacement and other negative impacts, both on estate residents and their communities in London and on the recipient communities to which estate residents have often been displaced.
3) Local, national, and international policymakers will be helped to shape future policy agendas on estate renewal and urban regeneration through a series of planned policy engagement activities and briefings, conducted in collaboration with the GLA.
Publications
Reades J
(2022)
Quantifying state-led gentrification in London: Using linked consumer and administrative records to trace displacement from council estates
in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
Loretta Lees
(2020)
The emotional and psychic impacts of London's 'new' urban renewal
in Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal
London Tenants Federation
(2021)
Estate Watch London, and beyond
in Radical Housing Journal
Lees L.
(2020)
The emotional and psychological impacts of london's 'new' urban renewal
in Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal
Lees L
(2017)
Resisting Planetary Gentrification: The Value of Survivability in the Fight to Stay Put
in Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Lees L
(2021)
"So, Don't You Want Us Here No More?" Slow Violence, Frustrated Hope, and Racialized Struggle on London's Council Estates
in Housing, Theory and Society
Lees L
(2021)
Beverley's Story Survivability on one of London's newest gentrification frontiers
in City
Lees L
(2019)
The social cleansing of London council estates: everyday experiences of 'accumulative dispossession'
in Housing Studies
Hubbard P
(2018)
The right to community? Legal geographies of resistance on London's gentrification frontiers
in City
Description | We have collected quantitative data on the displacement of low income council estate residents due to estate renewal in London, and qualitative data on the impacts. Some of this data was used in a Public Inquiry into the demolition of the Aylesbury Estate in London. |
Exploitation Route | see estatewatch.london Rather than writing a monograph we decided we wanted to make all our data public and as such designed and collaborated on a website instead. This has been used by housing campaigners local, national and international; by council estate residents in London and nationally, and by other academics interested in the work. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Government Democracy and Justice |
URL | http://estatewatch.london |
Description | The findings have been used in 4 documentaries: 2022 BBC1 documentary 'Hanging on to Home' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00156w0; 2022 Grenfell 5 Years On (Dinah-Nadine Reynolds); 2020 The Aylesbury (James Webber); 2018 BBC InsideOut 'The death of the council home?' (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45196994) (Zack Adesina). On a co-produced public wesbite estatewatch.london/, where the London Tenant's Federation and Just Space have used the findings and undertaken further work with and without me. This featured in Time Out, https://www.timeout.com/london/news/these-122-council-estates-in-london-might-be-demolished-082422 andOpen Democracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/custom-house-demolition-estates-ballot/. In 2 public inquires - the 2018 Revised Aylesbury Public Inquiry and the 2022-23 South Acton Inquiry. The findings were used by the Haringey Council Scrutiny Panel on the £2billion proposals for the Haringey Development Vehicle and contributed to our overall view that this project should not proceed. My legal impact appeared in: Geographers and Legal Impact: scoping the field, RGS-IBG, 2023: https://www.rgs.org/geography/advocacy-and-impact/impact/geographers-and-legal-impact/ My findings were discussed in a 2022 3 part podcast of Land, displacement and resistance, in Episode 2: Land, place, roots, https://realsymbol.org/. And I was invited to input into UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing's report on Spatial Segregation and the right to housing on 'displacement' and the reality of mixed income housing initiatives. |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Aylesbury Public Inquiry |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Impact | Change in housing policy Southwark Council |
Description | Just Space |
Organisation | Just Space |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Research findings made available see estatewatch.london |
Collaborator Contribution | As per ESRC bid - helped with dissemination |
Impact | estatewatch.london |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | London Tenants Federation |
Organisation | London Tenant's Federation |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | research input to estatewatch.london |
Collaborator Contribution | As per ESRC bid facilitating access on hard to reach council estates; plus website we set up |
Impact | estatewatch.london |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | BBC documentary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | March 2022 research and support for public inquiry featured in BBC1 documentary 'Hanging on to Home' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00156w0 |
Description | BBC documentary |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC Inside Out London documentary |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45196994) |
Description | GLA dissemination |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Released research findings at City Hall, London, chaired by Housing Committee member Sian Berry |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://estatewatch.london |
Description | Media interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | August 2022 estatewatch.london and the esrc research featured in Time Out, https://www.timeout.com/london/news/these-122-council-estates-in-london-might-be-demolished-082422 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.timeout.com/london/news/these-122-council-estates-in-london-might-be-demolished-082422 |
Description | interview media |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | November 2022 Demolition or Disrepair: the choice facing residents on one London estate, estatewatch.london featured, Open Democracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/custom-house-demolition-estates-ballot/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/custom-house-demolition-estates-ballot/ |
Description | interviewed newspaper artcile |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | January 2023 estatewatch.london and research findings referred to in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/12/vote-demolish-council-homes-london-democracy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/12/vote-demolish-council-homes-london-democracy |
Description | podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Real/Symbol interviewed in 3 part podcast of Land, displacement and resistance, in Episode 2: Land, place, roots, |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://realsymbol.org/ |