Through examining the past, London has an opportunity to understand what we are at risk of losing if gentrification continues unabated and to consider what we want from future iterations of the city.
Adam Almeida (3)
04 June 2021
Pushed to the Margins: New Report on Gentrification in London
A new report published by the Runnymede Trust and Centre for Labour and Social Studies explores gentrification and its impact on multiracial working-class people in London in the first half of the 2010s.
Examining the historical context of gentrification, the report uses quantitative methodologies and builds on existing data from “community-run organisations” and academics to identify and analyse the “dynamics or race and class in London through the lens of gentrification”. This data is used to provide empirical insight into the influence the elements of gentrification – displacement, erasure and neighbourhood uplift – have on multiracial, working-class communities.
With 1 in 4 people already living in poverty, findings from the report show that London is becoming a progressively “unstable site of working-class life” due to the tenuous environment created by gentrification.
In a webinar led by Dr Phil Hubbard, entitled ‘Pushed to the Margins: Roundtable Discussion on Gentrification in London’, Adam Almeida, Dr Patria Román-Velázquez and Dr Nigel de Noronha discussed the report and its implications, as well as looking forward to the future of gentrification in our cities in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.