Gentrification, displacement, and the impacts of council estate renewal in C21st London 2017-2020

Lees, Loretta (2020). Gentrification, displacement, and the impacts of council estate renewal in C21st London 2017-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-854342

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.

Data description (abstract)

The project explored the impact of council estate renewal on those residents being ‘decanted’ from their homes to allow for demolition and redevelopment. As well as compiling quantitative evidence of the scale of the renewal of estates in London, and the amount of demolition which has been undertaken, the project used qualitative methods to explore the impacts of decanting on different resident groups. A total of 120 interviews were completed with residents from six council estates across London that are undergoing or have undergone regeneration.

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