Estate Regeneration and Its Discontents: Public Housing, Place and Inequality in London

by Paul Watt

Overview

Public housing estates are disappearing from London’s skyline in the name of regeneration, while new mixed-tenure developments are arising in their place. This richly illustrated book provides a vivid interdisciplinary account of the controversial urban policy of demolition and rebuilding amid London’s housing crisis and the polarisation between the city’s have-nots and have-lots. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with over 180 residents living in some of the capital’s most deprived areas, Watt shows the dramatic ways that estate regeneration is reshaping London, fuelling socio-spatial inequalities via state-led gentrification. Foregrounding resident experiences and perspectives both before and during regeneration, he examines class, place belonging, home and neighbourhood, and argues that the endless regeneration process results in degeneration, displacement and fragmented communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447329190
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	04/28/2021
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	520
Sales rank:	709,992
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Paul Watt is Professor of Urban Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Table of Contents

Introduction PART I: Policy analysis and research context Housing policy: the rise and fall of public housing Urban policy: estate regeneration The research boroughs and their estates PART II: Estates before regeneration Marginalisation and inclusion Valued places Devalued places PART III: Living through regeneration Beginnings Degeneration Displacement Resistance Aftermaths Conclusion Appendix A: Methodology Appendix B: Profile of interviewees

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Paul Watt is one of our most dedicated academic analysts of the housing regeneration schemes that are so central to today’s London and his commitment and expertise are fully in evidence here. This is a substantial contribution to the debate over what kind of capital we want.” Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian

"A monumental and humane book that puts people, places and communities at the heart of its indictment of estate regeneration in London." Andrew Wallace, University of Leeds

“An outstanding and lucid sociological analysis of the changes wrought on London’s public housing communities. Paul Watt not only unearths the realities of housing regeneration but also advances a compelling critique of government policy making.” Keith Jacobs, University of Tasmania

Editorial Reviews

Paul Watt is a leading analyst of housing policy and politics. He draws on this experience to make sense of a pervasive and troubling housing policy that is reshaping urban space and urban lives in London and beyond.” David Madden, London School of Economics "The book enables a new understanding of the complexities of tenure and its interaction with place and housing system dynamics. Watt superbly renders the experiences and views of secure and insecure local authority and housing association tenants, owner-occupiers, RTB owners and those displaced to the private sector, allowing the power of their stories to illuminate a wider explanation for their varied orientations to the regeneration process." International Journal of Housing Policy

“A real tour de force. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the links between housing, class inequality and working-class disadvantage.” Tracy Shildrick, Newcastle University

"This brilliantly researched and passionately written book will be passed through generations as a cautionary tale of how public housing and its contribution to London's working-class lives was destroyed by venal politicians on behalf of the real-estate lobby." Stuart Hodkinson, University of Leeds

From the Publisher