www hoddereducation co ukgeographyreview Gentrification and placeremaking issues

www. hoddereducation. co. uk/geographyreview Gentrification and place-remaking issues Simon Oakes Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

Key terms Place remaking An umbrella term which refers to all the collected physical, economic, social and cultural changes that can be carried out in a place. It includes formal capital-intensive attempts at regeneration and redevelopment, in addition to the informal actions of individuals moving into an area and making home improvements or opening new businesses. Gentrification A complex process involving new flows of investment and people into old Do you know what these terms mean? neighbourhoods. Gentrification has people-led (or ‘bottom-up’) and institutional (or ‘top-down’) causes. It usually results in the (re)creation of wealthier neighbourhoods but is also associated with rising inequality, both between and within places. Click to reveal the definitions Community cohesion When the diverse individuals and societies living in an area all share similar feelings of identity and belonging to that place. Positive feedback When changes in a system begin to accelerate, leading in turn to further changes. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

Curriculum relevance All A-level geography specifications require students to understand: • how the demographic, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of places are shaped by shifting flows of people, resources, money and investment, and ideas at all scales from local to global • the characteristics and impacts of external forces operating at different scales from local to global, including government policies, the decisions of multinational corporations, or the impacts of international or global institutions. Gentrification is an important and complex process which has helped re-shape places throughout the UK in recent decades. It involves new flows of people and investment into previously neglected and declining places. Government policies play an important role in ‘setting the scene’ for this to happen. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

What is gentrification? When affluent people and new investment flow into a place, a process called gentrification occurs. • Geographers became interested in gentrification during the 1980 s when the UK government made it easier for private developers to buy up land in old and neglected inner-city neighbourhoods. • These were often places that were fashionable with artists and musicians but remained affordable neighbourhoods for people on lower incomes. • But by the 1990 s, rising demand sent land prices spiralling upwards in fashionable gentrified districts like London’s Notting Hill and Hoxton. • Rural places can become gentrified too. • House prices in some Oxfordshire villages and towns have ballooned. • In 2017, a four-bedroom house in the small town of Thame cost around £ 500, 000. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

Evidence of gentrification This ‘for sale’ sign is representing Balham as a fashionable ‘lifestyle’ destination The gentrification of Balham (London SW 12) Chain stores and MNCs may try to gain a foothold in Hodder & Stoughton © 2016 gentrifying places Vacant properties in the early stages of being renovated and re-sold Simon Oakes The vacant property shown in the first photograph eventually became a fashionable juice bar

Positive feedback • Gentrification operates as a series of positive feedback loops. • Each new flow of migration and investment leads in turn to further inflows of money and people. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

Different views Gentrification is a place remaking process with varying benefits and costs for different individuals and societies. ‘The community's character isn't just about buildings, it's about its people. We have to decide what we value more: keeping a building from rising one extra story, or keeping someone who has lived in a neighbourhood for 40 or 50 years from being forced out. ' Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 ‘Community workers, policymakers and urban planners all across the world are grappling with the challenge of integrating old and new communities and building a sense of place. ’ Financial Times newspaper

Property values Gentrification is usually linked with the (re)creation of wealthier neighbourhoods. • Property prices rise when demand for housing increases in a neighbourhood. • Place remaking is deemed ‘successful’ if an area becomes a property hotspot. • Previously low-worth housing stock – which had been rented cheaply to lower -income groups – is sold to private buyers once its value starts to rise. • But low-income tenants are evicted and must find new homes elsewhere instead. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 Simon Oakes Land values in gentrified inner London reached an all-time high in 2016.

Overheating Part of the difficulty in managing places sustainably is the way that overheating can occur in successful areas. • In some London postcodes, house prices are a staggering ten times higher than they were 15 years ago. • This has pushed out people working in creative industries, such as artists and writers, who played an important early role in the gentrification of those very places they are now forced to quit. • Some hyper-gentrified urban areas have become unaffordable for key workers such as junior teachers and nurses. The implications for community sustainability are alarming. • As a result, planning officers will often insist that new property developments include some affordable housing. • However, critics say affordable housing makes up only a very small percentage of housing stock, and cannot compensate for more widespread loss of cheap accommodation. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018

Community cohesion Gentrified areas are often represented as cohesive places where local people get together in new bars, restaurants, markets and at community events. • But the target audience for many businesses may be wealthy new incomers to the area. • Meanwhile, there can be adverse effects for established multigenerational families whose younger members lack the skill set and wealth of incomers. Young adults in these families must either remain living with their parents indefinitely, or move to a cheaper neighbourhood if they want their own home. • Low-income communities become displaced or decanted from gentrified places over time. • This is what makes gentrification a contested and political process. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 Diashule/Fotolia

Social tension and conflict Sometimes gentrification cause social problems. There is a spectrum of tension. Occasionally, tension can build into more serious conflict and crime. Rising tension over the issue of housing affordability Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 Breakdown in relations between incomers and established residents Isolated acts of vandalism Larger-scale social disorder and disturbances

Social tension and conflict Alan and Gary Keery run the Cereal Killer Café in London’s Brick Lane. It sells bowls of cereal for £ 3. 50. • In 2015, they were cleaning red paint off the shop front and scrubbing the word ‘scum’ off the windows. The men had received death threats from a mob that attacked their business. • The attackers told TV reporters they were angry because houses are too expensive and the prices charged by the new bars and cafés are too high. • Previously, a Channel 4 News report had criticised Alan and Gary for selling cereal in a place where there is still a high rate of poverty. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 CC BY-SA 4. 0, https: //en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? curid=542 56622

Grenfell Tower Built in 1974, Grenfell Tower was home to some of the remaining low-income individuals and families from London’s gentrified Ladbroke Road and Notting Hill neighbourhoods. • The poor management and hazardous design of Grenfell Tower resulted in disaster when a fire broke out in 2017 because of a faulty fridge on one of the lower floors. • Not enough had been done to mitigate fire hazards. There was only one communal staircase as a means of escape. Sprinklers had not been fitted. • Kensington and Chelsea Council had ignored warnings from residents in the years before the fire. Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 A five-bedroom private home in Notting Hill costs between £ 2 million and £ 20 million. Poorer Grenfell Tower residents could not afford these prices Fotolia

Conclusions • • Copy out the table and write in the consequences of gentrification. In the final column, make an overall judgement about gentrification: on balance, do the benefits outweigh the costs? How can you justify the final judgement you have arrived at? Gentrification consequences Property and land values Environmental quality Social issues Community cohesion OVERALL JUDGEMENT Hodder & Stoughton © 2018 Details of costs and benefits

This resource is part of GEOGRAPHY REVIEW, a magazine written for A-level students by subject experts. To subscribe to the full magazine go to: http: //www. hoddereducation. co. uk/geographyreview Hodder & Stoughton © 2018