Exploring attitudes to edgy urban destinations: the case of Deptford, London

Abstract

The role of tourists and tourism in urban development is not fully understood. Research has focused on tourism districts within city centres, but less is known about tourism in peripheral, less affluent urban districts. These areas can appeal to visitors as edgy alternatives to mainstream destinations. This study establishes who is interested in visiting and why, and it explores the underlying rationale for negative attitudes. The aims are addressed by an in-depth analysis of Deptford in South East London. This area is a relatively deprived part of a world city, albeit one that has long been earmarked as London's next cool district. The study uses a mix of different sources to analyse the case. Responses to a New York Times article on Deptford are analysed and the attitudes of actual visitors and key stakeholders are explored. The discussion includes an examination of different interpretations and attitudes towards the notion of edginess. Edginess is deemed attractive by certain audiences; something linked to a reverence for working-class life in the arts. The study concludes that, whilst edginess is a noted characteristic, what people appreciate about Deptford is its ‘distinctive ordinariness’ – its contrast with more polished and contrived urban districts.

Keywords:

• visitors
• gentrification
• regeneration
• cities
• urban
• creative

Notes

1. Heap (2009) suggests that the most prominent draw was the availability of illicit sex. Other motivations included observing how the poor lived, conducting sociological research, looking for friends or relatives, shopping, touring creative studios, and seeking out bohemian artists (Heap, 2009).

2. This has explicit links to Shaw, Bagwell, and Karmowska's (2004) identification of Rotterdam's ‘city safari’, where visitors are encouraged to visit deprived multi-cultural districts.

3. The enduring popularity of Jack the Ripper tours epitomises this.

4. The inherent methodological frailties of this approach are recognised. First, as Maclaran and Catterall (2002) identify, online researchers have to accept that the characteristics of participants are not known. It is also possible that the same participant could contribute more than once using different electronic identities. Second, the sample is not representative and inherently biased, because only people with internet access are able to participate. Some comments may be removed by moderators and, as comments appear on certain sites, the target audience of those sites are privileged. In addition, the validity of the information given is impossible to verify – although this may occur with most other qualitative data collection techniques, for example interviews. Ethical considerations regarding the use of unsolicited first person accounts on the internet have been properly considered. This meant only using data from publicly available sites where no passwords were required to access the data; omitting names, email addresses and other means of personal identification (Morton Robinson, 2001).

5. Morton Robinson (2001, p. 714) suggests that unsolicited accounts on the internet can be an ‘extremely valuable source of rich authentic data’. Furthermore, Maclaran and Catterall (2002, p. 324) feel that internet postings can generate ‘more thoughtful, structured and edited responses’ compared to conventional interviews, with anonymity encouraging ‘greater openness and revelation’.

6. All interviews and online comments were analysed using a thematic analysis technique adapted from Flick (2009) and Yin (2003). The data were reduced into a manageable form using categories identified a priori from initial research questions and the literature review. As the analysis continued, new themes emerged from the data, allowing the formation of relevant categories (from both a priori and emerged themes). The investigators repeated this process until a satisfactory depth of analysis was achieved.

7. Often they have become dilapidated because of under-investment rather than because of inherent problems and London's large estates continue to play a valuable role in housing low-income Londoners.

8. Reflecting ethnic rivalries in New York's neighbourhoods, there were accusations that the black business community was excluded from initiatives (Keith, 2005).

9. See Pratt (2009) for a detailed account of Hoxton's geography and development.

10. ‘inglorious’, ‘up-market this is not’, ‘blue-collar aesthetics’, ‘London's Wild West “eccentric”, “chaos”, boisterous’.

11. This was an interesting illustration of how the contemporary media works: one media article became a suite of items as publications reported the original piece.

12. A 14 year old was quoted as saying ‘It's s**t, unless you like prostitutes, druggies and gangsters’

13. Coverage of this project in the Evening Standard (Prynn, 2013) was accompanied by the headline ‘Run Down Riverside Neighbourhood will be turned into the Shoreditch of South London’. Shoreditch in East London emerged in the 1990s as one of the city's most fashionable areas.

14. Spittles (2013) and Metro (2013) are recent examples.

15. Examples include the Bronzeville district of Chicago, which contains ‘wide boulevards and majestic stone edifices’ (Boyd, 2000, p. 112).

16. This corresponds to Bullman et al.’s (2012, p. 137) observation that, in Deptford ‘intervention will only work and pay long-term dividends by engaging with and seeking the consent of the community itself’.