Should We Evict Critical Perspectives on the State-Led Gentrification of Council Estates in London? The Case of Woodberry Down
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6404874 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alessandro Busá (0000-0003-0268-7283, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK), Loretta Lees (0000-0001-5834-8155, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 493-528 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Urban Affairs Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1078-0874 • E-ISSN: 1552-8332 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10780874241259464 |
| OpenAlex | W4400901360 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 43 |
Research on council estate regeneration in London has revealed predominantly negative outcomes, including direct and indirect displacements, the loss of homes and communities, and the slow-violence enacted on residents by lengthy programs. Drawing on recent EU-funded research on Woodberry Down (Hackney), we highlight similar negative effects, alongside some positive, ambiguous, and novel outcomes. We discuss these mixed findings within two emerging trends: a new turn to criticizing “antigentrification” work on estate regeneration; and a housing policy turn back to promoting council homes and the refurbishment of council estates. We conclude that it is premature to evict “antigentrification” perspectives in the longue durée of estate regeneration in London, even in the case of Woodberry Down, which has had some significant community won victories. We also reveal new complicating factors in this “gentrification story”—“Guppies” and precarious private renters who are not the wealthy, professional gentrifiers of earlier new-build gentrification literatures
Economic growth · Economics · Gentrification · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Computer Science · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Urban Planning and Governance
Defensible Space on the Move
Housing Stock Transfers, Regeneration and State-Led Gentrification in London
Responsibility and commitment in urban scholar-activism
‘Press-ganged’ Generation Rent
Self-financing regeneration? Capturing land value through institutional innovations in public housing stock transfer, planning gain and financialisation
New‐build gentrification
The longue durée of community engagement
On the Injustices of Gentrification
So, Don’t You Want Us Here No More?” Slow Violence, Frustrated Hope, and Racialized Struggle on London’s Council Estates
The right to community
Beverley’s Story
Speculating on London's housing future
The social cleansing of London council estates
Generation rent and the financialization of housing
Intergenerational family support for ‘Generation Rent’
Resisting gentrification on its final frontiers
The return of class war conservatism? Housing under the UK Coalition Government
Conducting qualitative content analysis in urban planning research and urban studies
The Urban Injustices of New Labour's “New Urban Renewal”
The State and Financialization of Public Land in the United Kingdom
Spoiled Mixture
Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the USA
Renovation without renoviction
London and New York as a safe deposit box for the transnational wealth elite
Painted Bullet Holes and Broken Promises
Demolishing the Present to Sell off the Future? The Emergence of 'Financialized Municipal Entrepreneurialism' in London
Rethinking Gentrification
The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research
The political economy of land value capture in the UK
Rentier Capitalism
Resisting Planetary Gentrification
Fear and loathing in north London
Sold out? The right-to-buy, gentrification and working-class displacements in London
Fairness and the Politics of Resentment
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |