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| The Heygate Estate - now demolished - in south London © Paul Coleman, London Intelligence 2012 |
Loretta Lees is a Professor of Human Geography at
University of Leicester.
Professor Lees specialises
in urban regeneration, gentrification, and urban geographies of young people.
Lees is an
author of Staying Put: An
Anti-Gentrification Handbook for Council Estates in London.*
The handbook offers ‘successful tactics and tools
used by groups challenging’ council-backed, developer-led ‘regeneration’ and
offers ‘alternatives to council estate demolition’.
It’s 11 February
2015 and Professor Lees addresses a gathering of architects and surveyors at City, Country, Suburb?
This event is
part of ‘The Future of Housing’ series of talks, organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, hosted by the Geological Society on
London’s Piccadilly.
This is what
Lees has to say.
“The 21st Century is urban. For the most
part, we’re all urban now,” says Professor Lees.
“We’ve all
urban mindsets, even those living in the suburbs or rural areas. Some call this
‘planetary urbanisation’ – the complete urbanization of society.
“The
traditional divisions of city, country, suburb, urban, suburban and rural are
breaking down.
“We’ve got
gentrifiers with suburban mindsets living in gentrification frontiers in the
cities.
“They’re not the
left-liberal gentrifiers of the past.
“But
conservative with a small ‘c’ and even with a big ‘C’.”
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| Professor Loretta Lees, with surveyor James Goff (left) and architectural writer Owen Hopkins © London Intelligence 2015 |
Hipsters
“The new-build city
centre developments where they live are sold as ‘new urban’ but they’re really
suburban in character.
“Urban hipsters
hark back to a simpler, even rural way of life, identified through organic food
and an environmental conscience.
“They’ve
conspicuous thrift in renovating old houses and getting back to basics.
“Stripped wood
floors.
“Open plan.
“All the
aesthetics that IKEA and Habitat are now mass producing.”
Gentrification
“The suburbs
themselves are more urban now.
“As more people
have moved into London’s post-war suburbs, bringing gentrification demands with
them.
“Good coffee
shops.
“Waitrose.
“Gastro-pubs.
“Urban parks and
playgrounds.”
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| "Urban hipsters...organic food...good coffee shops...Habitat..." © Paul Coleman, London Intelligence 2010 |
Rethink
“Planners and
policymakers need to wake up to the breakdown of the old categories of urban,
suburban and rural.
“Realistically,
the way forward is to rethink cities.
“The Green
Belt, I think, should remain.
“We should
infill and densify our main cities and protect rural areas.
“Environmentally
and economically, this makes good
sense in terms of jobs and services.
“But infill and
densification needs to be thought about creatively.”
Faster
“We can
democratise the future of cities.
“If we draw
upon the best aspects of the city, suburbs and rural, planning them together.
“We need a
nationally efficient high speed transport network like Switzerland that can
rebalance the economy between North and South cities.
“We need
better, faster local public transit.
“Property
values are already jumping around in London, especially those areas close to
new rail, tube and even cycle paths.”
Pushed
“People think
in terms of spatial capital – the ability to live in a strategic location to
where they work – and this needs to inform where houses are built.
“Such as around
transport hubs – for instance, at Colindale in north London.
“Good idea.
“But the
downside is that it is often at the expense of council estates and tenants –
who are pushed out.”
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| "Affordable housing is not affordable for the vast majority" © London Intelligence 2014 |
Get back
“My view of
garden cities is that our big cities are already redeveloped as garden cities –
or green cities – that encompass nature.
“But all of
this is dependent on planning democratically.
“The core issue
of planning theory and practice is fundamentally about the allocation,
distribution and alteration of property rights.
“Planning needs
to get back to its reformist roots.
“Planners need
to start realistic and strategic conversations about the social and economic
reform of our cities.”
Stop
“All new housing
needs to be affordable for the population that needs it.
“As affordable
housing is not affordable for the vast majority of people.
“Council
housing, or social rented housing, needs to be retained. “Grown and protected.
“We need to
stop right-to-buy.
“We need to
stop the significant demolition of council estates.
“We need to
make sure that if registered social landlords take over council estates that
rents don’t through the roof.”
Cult
“The state has
an obligation to protect us from gentrification.
“The state also
has an obligation to house the poor and the less well off.
“And even
beyond that, to allow middle class people to have access to social housing, if
they so desire.
“The cult of
property in the UK needs to be undermined – and not supported.
“Homes are for
living in.
“They are not
investments.”
Trouble
“Given the
volume of investment in real estate – not just in London – we may yet be in
real trouble.
“Because there
has been an over-escalation of money invested in what Marxists call ‘the second
circuit of capital’ – real estate.
“Many people
still say, ‘gentrification is good’.”
Zero
“But the
academic research evidence over 50 years says ‘no, it isn’t’.
“A February
2015 report by the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth looked at the
regeneration and renewal of estates of the kind happening in London.
“It says:
‘Overall the evidence suggests that the measurable economic impacts on local
economies, employment, wages and deprivation, are not large and are often zero.
In contrast, these
projects have a
positive impact on property prices.’”
Need
“So, all the
forms of urban regeneration we’re seeing at the moment are actually
‘gentrification’ – and this is a problem.
“We need urban
regeneration that is not gentrification.”
Aggravating
Afterwards, Professor Lees is asked, ‘which fundamentally aggravates London’s shortage of genuinely affordable housing –
‘right-to-buy’ or ‘buy-to-let’?’
"Both," replies Lees.
* Staying Put: An Anti-Gentrification Handbook for Council Estates in London, London Tenants Federation, Loretta Lees, Just Space, Southwark Notes Archive Group, June 2014, London.
© Paul Coleman, London Intelligence, February 2015
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