When pubs and corner shops become art galleries, wine bars and coffee houses, local residents can become alienated from their own communities, reveals a new report.
Last summer, a community arts project supported by Hackney council set up an installation in a London shopping street to welcome passers-by. It comprised a large banner with the slogan, "Hackney is friendly" and two attendants dressed up as if they were attending a 1970s folk festival. For some, it was an alienating sight. "What's this about?" asked one man, shaking his head. "They don't want people like me here any more."
It's one example of the difficult question facing communities and public services: when an area is gentrified, and the demographic and local culture changes, what happens to those who were there before and feel left behind? What happens when the local boozer becomes an expensive gastropub and the corner shop turns into a coffee shop serving flat whites for £3.80 a cup?
Hackney is just one of the case studies identified in an IPPR report, Love thy neighbourhood, which addresses this problem. The study focuses on the example of the borough's Herbert Butler estate, which found itself cut off from the economic and social benefits of regeneration... Keep reading on The Guardian
Last summer, a community arts project supported by Hackney council set up an installation in a London shopping street to welcome passers-by. It comprised a large banner with the slogan, "Hackney is friendly" and two attendants dressed up as if they were attending a 1970s folk festival. For some, it was an alienating sight. "What's this about?" asked one man, shaking his head. "They don't want people like me here any more."
It's one example of the difficult question facing communities and public services: when an area is gentrified, and the demographic and local culture changes, what happens to those who were there before and feel left behind? What happens when the local boozer becomes an expensive gastropub and the corner shop turns into a coffee shop serving flat whites for £3.80 a cup?
Hackney is just one of the case studies identified in an IPPR report, Love thy neighbourhood, which addresses this problem. The study focuses on the example of the borough's Herbert Butler estate, which found itself cut off from the economic and social benefits of regeneration... Keep reading on The Guardian