Displacement and estate demolition: multi-scalar place attachment among relocated social housing residents in London

Abstract

The forced relocation—displacement—of social housing residents resulting from estate regeneration involving demolition has been the subject of considerable academic and policy debate. While some scholars and policy makers regard such displacement as having harmful outcomes in relation to loss of homes and community relations, others argue that residents benefit from relocation as they move to ‘better places’. This paper contributes to this debate, and to the wider 'post-displacement' research agenda, by providing an experiential perspective on residential relocation with reference to in-depth interviews with social housing residents in London who returned to new-build flats at the redeveloped mixed-tenure estates. The paper employs a multi-scalar approach to place attachment which is illustrated and analysed at three spatial scales: domestic (home/dwelling), intermediate (block of flats) and neighbourhood (estate). The home scale is the most positive albeit not unequivocal aspect of residents’ post-displacement experiences, whereas place attachments at the block and neighbourhood scales are characterized by extensive and intensive disruptions and losses.

Keywords:

• Displacement
• gentrification
• home
• neighbourhood
• place attachment
• regeneration
• social housing estates

Acknowledgements

The research for this paper was funded by the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. Thanks to the reviewers and to Andrew Wallace for their insightful comments on previous drafts of this paper. I am extremely grateful to the research participants who gave so generously of their time.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 All quotations are from social tenants unless otherwise indicated; interviewees’ age, ethnic identity and estate are included.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Watt

Paul Watt is Professor of Urban Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on social housing, urban regeneration, homelessness, gentrification, the London housing crisis, the London 2012 Olympic Games, suburbs and suburbanisation. His most recent book is Estate Regeneration and Its Discontents: Public Housing, Place and Inequality in London (Policy Press, 2021).