Anna Minton, author of Ground Control, on a new MRes course examining the changing face of life in London.
As property prices in London and the south east continue to soar, affordable housing all around Britain is in its death throes.
There was no better indication of this than Glasgow City Council’s plan to demolish the Red Road flats live on TV as part of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games last summer. After a public outcry the council abandoned the idea, but the very fact that it chose this as a focus for celebration is a symbol of the destruction of affordable housing around Britain.
The process is at its most extreme in London, where the “Boris boom” is witnessing the demolition of dozens of housing estates, which are making way for new developments of largely luxury housing. As lower income Londoners are forced out of the capital, property as an international asset class is creating unprecedented profits for international investors.
The consequence of this has been the spread of “buy to leave”, especially in wealthy parts of the capital where investors buy property which is left empty, before selling it on for a higher price. As a result, local people fear areas of Kensington and Chelsea are turning into “ghost towns”, with new luxury apartment complexes characterised by a phenomenon that’s being called “lights out London”.
But in terms of the impact on communities, it is the demolition of tens of thousands of homes for people on lower incomes which is starting to profoundly change the social demographic of London, by displacing poorer people out of the city.
The Heygate Estate, which once housed 3,000 people on low incomes at Elephant and Castle, is a typical example, knocked down before Christmas to make way for Elephant Park, an upmarket development of 2,500 homes of which only 79 will be social housing.
Given the acute housing crisis and desperate lack of affordable housing it may seem counter intuitive to be knocking down homes for people on lower incomes, but this is development led by soaring property prices, with the booming market driving local authorities into partnerships with private developers in almost every borough.
"In terms of the impact on communities, it is the demolition of tens of thousands of homes for people on lower incomes which is starting to profoundly change the social demographic of London, by displacing poorer people out of the city."
Meanwhile, in east London, Hackney’s Haggerston Estate has been knocked down and the Carpenters Estate (in the London Borough of Newham) and Robin Hood Gardens (Tower Hamlets) await the wrecking ball. In north London it’s Barnet’s West Hendon Estate, where 679 homes are being knocked down to make way for a 2,000-unit scheme with only 250 affordable homes.
In south London, Lambeth’s Guinness Trust Estate and Cressingham Gardens are up for demolition. It is the same on scores of other estates.
According to research by academic Loretta Lees, professor at the university of Leicester, the vast majority of tenants forced to move have ended up far from their homes, often outside of London, with the consequence that myriad communities are broken up and even families split apart.
Another casualty is the democratic process, with the consultation process frequently derided as a sham by residents who claim their voices go entirely unheard. At Cressingham Gardens, for example, the residents were consulted on a number of options which included straightforward refurbishment which was very popular with residents, who now claim the decision by the local authority to pursue demolition completely ignored their views.
These are some of the themes which will be investigated in a new postgraduate MRes course run by the architecture school at the University of East London called “London – Reading the Neoliberal City”. The aim of this Masters course is to critique the impact of “neoliberalism” over the last 30 years on urban space, property markets, architectural form and social justice.
Neoliberalism, a shorthand term for a more extreme form of capitalism, represents a series of ideas associated with the economic policies introduced by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. It is not a new term, but it is only in the last few years, following the financial crisis, that it has become common currency.
As well as the housing crisis, topics for study on the course will include the financialisation and privatisation of cities and the consequence for fear, trust and citizenship. All over Britain, streets and public spaces have been taken over by private companies, following the model of development pioneered at Canary Wharf. Cabot Circus in Bristol, Liverpool One and Westfield Stratford City are just a few examples of this large-scale private ownership of city space.
At Liverpool One, the huge estate owned by the Duke of Westminster’s property company Grosvenor, now controls 34 streets in the heart of the city, which are policed by private security. This growing privatisation of city space and the consequences for society will be another focus for the course.
Architecture at UEL is based in London’s Docklands, which itself pioneered neoliberal models of development and is a key site for study. While London is the focus, the global impact of these processes is relevant across the world and a different international workshop will take place each year.
The course is aimed at the wide range of professionals and students from around the world engaged in the built environment, from architects and professionals in construction to planners, developers and activists. A number of scholarships will be offered.
The aspiration is to create a much-needed centre for critical thinking about cities and a hub for new research which can contribute to the development of policy, with regard to housing, property markets and urban space. The housing crisis is reaching acute proportions and it is hoped that the work undertaken here can contribute in some small way to the promotion of alternative solutions.
Anna Minton, author of Ground Control and Douglas Spencer, architectural theorist, will be the course leaders. Tony Fretton, Emeritus Professor at TU Delft and director of Tony Fretton Architects, Katherine Clarke, director at MUF architecture/art and Architect Maria Alessandra Segantini, director of C+S Architects will be supervisors.
The course is full or part time and will begin in September. Successful completion of the course will be equivalent to the first year of a PhD. More details are available at: https://maasdurbanecology2014.wordpress.com/mres-london-reading-the-neo-liberal-city/
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