The Black London eMonograph series High rise, Hard living
By Thomas L Blair, editor and publisher
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Publishing information
High rise, Hard Living, on being Black in London’s tower Blocks
Thomas L Blair
ISBN 978-1-908480-23-1 The Black London eMonograph Series. Published by Editions Blair ©Thomas L Blair All rights reserved. ©2014
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the written permission of the author and copyright holder.
The greatest care has been taken in producing this publication; however, the author will endeavour to acknowledge any errors or omissions
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
High Rise, Hard Living
On being Black in London’s tower blocks
Thomas L Blair
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
High rise, Hard living – on being Black in London’s Tower Blocks
Summary This empirical study argues for planning innovative renewal in post- war social housing areas of Black and Ethnic minority concentration in inner London. Completed in 1997, it examines a popular portfolio of urban policy action, namely area-wide housing renewal, affecting Milton Court a social housing estate in London with significant populations of Afro-Caribbean, African, and Asian residents. The evidence shows that though small area research is a well- established focus of social science and social policy disciplines, its application in inner city social housing areas faces serious challenges.
Three challenging issues provide the context for the study:
A flawed conception and use of housing renewal and area regeneration policies and strategies;
An increased concentration of black and ethnic minority household in the most disadvantaged social housing areas, and as a consequence
There are greater demands on housing institutions and policy makers to predict and respond to the needs of new residents for service provision.
In conclusion, the author proposes remedial action to close the gap between local needs and planning innovative renewal:
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Integrate social and physical area and neighbourhood renewal
Develop awareness of the needs and contributions of disadvantaged communities; and
Foster new “best practices” for housing institutions, urban policy makers and professionals.
Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Dr. Michael Keith, senior lecturer in sociology and contemporary urban studies and project co-director, Deptford City Challenge Evaluation Project (DCCEP), Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR), Goldsmiths College, University of London. Thanks are due to Professor Paul Gilroy of the Sociology Department, Goldsmiths College, for his very helpful comments.
In addition, a debt of gratitude for their assistance and expert advice is owed to the officers and staff of the London Borough of Lewisham departments of housing, planning, education and community affairs.
The co-operation of resource persons from Milton Court estate, estate managers and consultant architects and urban designers is greatly appreciated.
The contributions of many people with extensive knowledge of the Deptford area and the estate is acknowledged, especially the contributions of Mrs. Sybil Phoenix MBE, of the Marsha Phoenix Trust, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, formerly chair of the Woodpecker Neighbourhood Committee, and Mr. Alfred Banya of Health First, Guy’s Hospital.
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Table of Contents
Abstract Figures, Maps, and Tables
Art 1. London’s Boroughs; Art 2. Milton Court Estate in Marlowe ward Deptford, Lewisham; Art 3. Milton Court Estate in Deptford’s northern wards; Art 4. Milton Court Estate on the Eve of Regeneration 1990; Art 5. Milton Court Estate on the eve of renewal 1992; and Art 6. Milton Court Estate Population Characteristics. 1991 Census Area Statistics.
1. Black Urbanisation in London and Deptford, Lewisham
2. The new Black tenantry and Milton Court housing estate
3. Shifting targets and policies for renewal
4. Assessing the gap
5. Conclusions and remedial actions
Appendices
Methodological Notes
Abbreviations
Glossary - Clarifying Use of Key Words
Bibliography
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
High Rise, Hard Living – on being Black in London’s Tower Blocks
ABSTRACT
British Blacks live in a welfare state envied by many. By law and practice, a low-income family in housing need could get on the list for 1960s high-rise municipal housing. The downside is that too often African and West Indian families were lodged in older properties targeted for insensitive demolition or renewal.
High rise, hard living argues that fair renewal policies could boost resident’s daily life conditions. This would release their nascent skills and civic participation.
Empirical research tests this thesis in five stages. One, Black migration and urbanisation sets the scene. Two, the new Black tenantry and the Milton Court housing estate, London, are assessed. Three, the research identifies the flawed process of renewal activity. Four, establishes the gap between local need and plan responses. Finally, conclusions call for urgent remedial actions. Planning chiefs must ensure minority equal access to good quality public housing. Architects must create needs-based sensitive design and renewal projects. Policy makers must work together with Black residents for beneficial change.
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
1. BLACK URBANISATION IN LONDON
Overview
They were once valued as honest hard working labour recruited and tolerated within the post war urban economy. Now after a half- century of large-scale emigration a major proportion of Africans, Afro-Caribbean’s and their descendants live in the residential backwaters of the metropolis.1
Their cultural contributions are manifest in Notting Hill’s annual street festival and Brixton’s colourful market. But serious problems in Black housing have developed and persisted.2 Their plight in post-war public housing estates in London and its boroughs provide an example.
Black London in History
Londoners come from all over the world, and African, Caribbean and Asian peoples have lived and worked in the capital since the mid- sixteenth century and contributed to the intermingling of cultures that is a hallmark of the city (Merriman 1993).3 By the end of the 18th century there were about 10-20,000 Black people, or 6-7 per cent of London’s population, and many of them resided in riverside
1 It is recognised that not all the worst housing in London is occupied by Blacks; that not all Blacks are in the lowest positions in society; but, as indicated later, there is a higher degree of concentration of Blacks in poor housing areas in London than their range of class and economic situations would in fact suggest. Cf. Peach, Ceri (1981), “Conflicting Interpretations of Segregation”, in Jackson, Peter and Susan J. Smith eds. (1981), Social Interaction and Ethnic Segregation. Institute of British Geographers Special Publication, No. 12. London: Academic Press: especially page 31.
2 Urbanisation is partly a statistical measure, but essentially is a process of movement and change of life and relationships of a people within and among themselves and between them and the wider society. For many Black and ethnic minorities urbanisation represents a trans-national migration from a colonial or dependent past to the interstices of the metropolitan centre of the former colonial empire. Cf. Collins (1991), Dictionary of Sociology, edited by David Jary and Julia Jary. London: Harper Collins.
3 London’s racial and ethnic heterogeneity is firmly established in the works of Peter Linebaugh, Peter Fryer, James Walvin, F.O.Shyllon, David Dabydeen among others (see Bibliography).
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districts along the Thames like Wapping, Shadwell and Deptford (Linebaugh 1991:349; Fryer 1984:67; Anim-Addo 1995).
Deptford is, among these districts, a distinctive socio-cultural area deriving from its history as one of the oldest spheres in Britain of Black/white relations (Anim-Addo 1995). Thriving Black settlements existed in Deptford on the south east river bank, a major slaving trading port with Africa and the Caribbean. Blacks served as dockhands and sailors on the vast shipping fleets and as domestic servants in the households of royalty and wealthy families returning from the colonies (Anim-Addo 1995: passim). In the aftermath of slavery Black freedmen and women, as artisans and professionals, and as beggars and roustabouts, were familiar sights on the streets of Georgian London (Fryer 1984 and 1988), and in the early nineteenth century William Wordsworth noted among the urban multitudes:
“Moors, Malays, Lascars, the Tartar and Chinese,
And Negro ladies in white muslin gowns” (Merriman 1993:4).
It was the great age of immigration after the Second World War that brought the masses of people from the colonial Empire to London. Workers from the Caribbean and the Indian sub-continent helped rebuild London’s infrastructure, formed the backbone of many essential services and supplied the needs of industry (Merriman 1993:16).
By all accounts they were ambitious in the face of severe social and economic hardships. With hard work, it was said, they would enter urban society through a slow process of absorption like other immigrant groups such as the Jews, Irish, and Italians before them (Humphries and Taylor 1986; Patterson 1965:19ff; cf. Glass 1960).
In the ensuing decades however West Indians faced hostile comment from local communities and found their opportunities restricted by a “colour-bar” in housing, employment and education (Patterson 1965:334). Their hopes for advancement were
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frustrated and they slowly came to reside in increasing numbers in poorer areas of inner London (Thomas-Hope 1980; Foner 1985).
A Closer View
In the context of this study, a closer look at the research literature reveals a pattern of restricted housing choices. The newcomers seeking rented accommodation found “a highly segregated private market in which price gradients are strongly related to racial and class attitudes and that market forces provide the major mechanism of exclusion” (Henderson and Karn 1987:5). The result was a building up of Black settlements in privately owned slum properties, in declining “zones of transition” and “deprived areas” associated in popular imagery with “strangeness”, social problems and crime (cf. Patterson 1965; Rex and Moore 1967).
Later, as municipal authorities took over more responsibility for housing provision the settlers became tenants in public housing and contemporary researchers (Phillips 1986; Henderson and Karn 1980) noted a distinctive pattern of racial disadvantage in housing allocation. In Lewisham, Blacks had difficulty gaining entry to newer council properties and “It was found that only 24 per cent of Black tenants allocated tenancies in 1979/80 received new property as compared with 40 per cent of white tenants” (Henderson and Karn 1980:9).
Typically, in all parts of inner London, white tenants in deprived areas were offered alternatives in the more socially desirable middle and outer boroughs of London. Blacks on the other hand faced a different set of experiences as one report concluded: “West Indians and Asians in all local authorities studied have been found to receive the oldest housing with the poorest amenities, and the smallest proportion of houses as compared with flats” (Henderson and Karn 1980:9) Furthermore, and this is crucial for this study, “the estates with high concentration of minorities tend to be unpopular, high density and central estates offering relatively few
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amenities” (Henderson and Karn 1980:10; cf. Phillips 1986:7 and 12).
What emerges then is a clear trend in the housing status of Black Londoners from tenancy in privately owned decaying and slum properties to insalubrious municipally owned dwellings. Increasingly they became dependent on the local government authorities responsible for housing a significant proportion of inner London’s working class residents.
Blacks in the “Inner City’s inner city”
The shift of Black residence from private to municipal tenancy took place at the same time as the “urban crisis”. Solving “inner city” problems was a prime concern of government, public authorities, planning professionals and researchers (Hall 1981; Peach et al 1981). Defined as tracts of urban decline, the inner city lay in a broad belt around the major central areas. It was viewed as a distinct older zone of industry, commerce and working class residence different from that of the desirable outer suburban and commuter zones of the city (Jones 1985:9). In the popular mind and media, the inner city was associated with severe physical obsolescence and social deprivation, unassimilated immigrants, and poor access to services and facilities (Cf. Harrison 1983; and Short 1984:159).
What is important for this research is that many housing estates within the inner city were themselves typified as locations of inner city problems. They were problematised in the process of local authority policy actions, as one writer observed:
“Through various channels – slum clearance, homelessness, the points system – … The institution of the estate thus concentrates the social problems of the inner city in an even smaller and more intimate space, where they can interact more destructively” (Harrison 1983:225).
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Within this context, many Black Londoners found their next homes in the least desirable municipal estates. These “worst pockets of deprivation”, says Harrison, are “the least attractive, worst sited, worst provided with amenities. Usually they are unmodernized estates of pre-war flats, but sometimes more modern estates, more deeply flawed than usual with architectural blunders (Harrison 1983:225). They are, he concludes the “inner city’s inner city”.
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2. THE NEW BLACK TENANTRY – MILTON COURT ESTATE AND ITS PEOPLE
Milton Court Estate, once an exclusively white working class domain and now home to a large Black and ethnically mixed population, became in 1992 the proving ground for a potent urban policy idea – the renewal and re-invention of a deeply flawed, council-owned housing property. This chapter profiles the estate and its population in the early 1990s on the eve of major renewal activity.4
Contained cityscape
In 1991, Milton Court Estate was a large development of 1500 households occupying 26.1 hectares (64 acres) in Woodpecker a deprived neighbourhood in Deptford. The system-built estate had a striking appearance dominated by eight tower blocks of 14 and 23 storeys, comprising mainly one-bedroom flats. Densities of 291.4 habitable rooms per hectare (118 habitable rooms per acre) were considered extremely high. Buildings overshadowed each other. One central space was occupied by the Council’s local neighbourhood management office, a pub, food stores and community centre. However, there were few places for children to play safely without crossing busy roads. A sense of containment was accentuated by strong environmental boundaries: an under- utilised open space and the converging elevated embankments of British Rail and London Transport lines.
Majority Black tenants
Households of Caribbean and African backgrounds were the majority of tenants on the estate (LBL 1991 Milton Court Census Area Profiles). Ten years earlier white tenants of English, Scottish and Irish backgrounds were a majority of 70 per cent with a 23 per
4 Unless other wise stated, the data are drawn from available documents and reports by government, academic and consultancy sources, as appended or cited in the bibliography. A key resource is the LBL-London Borough of Lewisham Milton Court Report (1990).
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cent minority of Blacks (mainly from the Caribbean). By 1991 however, Black and African households became a majority of 46 per cent over whites at 43 per cent, with the remainder made up of Bangladeshi, Chinese and Vietnamese households (cf. Back 1996, Appendix 2).5
Poverty and Deprivation
One of the few estate-based studies of this period reported that Milton Court residents were among the poorest in the borough (LBL MCR 1990). Whereas in the borough in 1985 the average household income was just over £8000 per year, on the Milton Court Estate, in 1989, 70 per cent of respondents said they had an income below this level. Three-quarters were in rent arrears with an average arrears of £400 (LBL MCR 1990:44).
Widespread unemployment
Milton Court’s employed respondents, many of them in public sector jobs, were in a range of occupations of which management/professional and clerical, skilled/semi-skilled, and unskilled manual occupations accounted for a third each (LBL MCR 1990:72). However, more than half the households studied had no one in full time employment, according to one of the few estate- based surveys, and there were many households claiming benefits (LBL MCR 1990:72; LBL Hyde et al 1989). Those not in paid jobs were “not considering undertaking training, either because of the lack of child care facilities or because they do not believe that training will necessarily lead to a job” (LBL MCR 1990:31).
Employment among female job seekers was hindered by lack of childcare facilities (DCCEP 1993:25). In addition, there were a significant number of Black women in the “economically inactive” census category. Typically, they had restricted opportunities for
5 One informant, an economist and chair of the neighbourhood committee avers that the 1991 figures may not take into account high levels of overcrowding due to non-registered occupants, among them homeless persons.
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access to part-time wage employment. Difficulties were noted in the lack of training schemes to reduce high unemployment and increase employability skills, particularly among youth and women (DCCEP 1993:25-27, 29-30).
Educational Challenges
Milton Court Estate and neighbourhood youth and educational systems faced special challenges. A Lewisham Education Report of 1991 on exclusions from school concluded that Black Afro- Caribbean students were over-represented among those excluded in all categories from both primary and secondary schools (DCCEP 1993:29).
Crime fears
Fear of crime was an often-expressed cause of dissatisfaction. Reports relevant to this period indicate that 23 per cent of residents had experienced burglaries and 4 per cent had been attacked or robbed over a 12-month period (DCCEP 1993: summary). Initiatives by central and local government, the police and community had sought to contain crime and to design changes leading to a “safe city” image (LBL MCR 1990:18).
Health at risk
Many Black and ethnic minority households on Milton Court, like their neighbours, suffered from the most significant housing conditions affecting health: damp, cold, mould, indoor pollution, noise and lack of secure and safe space (DCC Deptford Health Challenge 1995). However, surveys using 1991-census information suggests that some groups were at increased risk from certain diseases. Hypertension, sickle cell disease, schizophrenia, and renal failure are most common among Black Africans and Caribbeans; coronary heart disease and diabetes are more common among
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Asians; and thalassaemia primarily affects people of Turkish origin (LBL Health 1996:38).6
Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Despite adverse circumstances, some residents sought to start small businesses on the estate or in the surrounding area, according to the Milton Court report. Popular business choices included electronics, cosmetics, painting and decorating, building as well as catering, car hire, taxi driving and contract nursing.
Community Relations
Milton Court residents felt that residents of different racial groups got on well together, but the young respondents were far more critical of race relations on the estate than their elders (LBL MCR 1990:62).7
Popular Images and Problems
Over the past decade, Milton Court had gained a reputation as a violent “no-go”, drug-infested area.8 This was unwarranted, from the point of view of many local people, according to the former chair of the Woodpecker Neighbourhood Committee and other Black informants. When surveyed, many respondents placed fear of crime, and safety and security high on their list of dissatisfaction, along with the problems of police-community relations. There was also concern about lack of privacy and poor environmental conditions, inadequate housing and council services, insufficient
6 Coronary heart disease and stroke, cancers, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS are important causes of death and ill-health in the general population.
7 Deptford had been for a decade or more the focus of racism and resistance (see Anim-Addo 1995, especially Ch.12 “The Nightmare Years”, and Steele 1995:215-219).
8 The LBL-Milton Court Report (1990), p.10 cites the Sunday Times article “Hooked on Crack”, January 1989 and “Inside Crack City”, New Statesman and Society, February 1989.
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amenities and child and youth facilities (LBL MCR 1990; cf. DCCEP 1994:50-52; Back 1996).
Participation and Key Issues
Under-representation of tenants in housing management and in decision-making was a key issue. Four main pre-conditions were identified for wider participation by residents in the management of the affairs of the estate (Milton Court Report 1990:29):
“The provision of an efficient and accountable housing service;
The implementation of an effective community safety strategy;
The provision of a range of new community services;
A decision making structure which allows residents to have a say at all levels”.
Conclusion
Together the data for Milton Court estate on the eve of regeneration confirm a picture of multi-disadvantage and a significant majority of Black tenants. There was a lack of social services and participatory involvement of tenants in decision-making. With these observations, it is now possible to look at the process and profile of urban policy interventions in Milton Court.
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3. MILTON COURT – SHIFTING TARGETS AND POLICIES FOR RENEWAL
Renewal actions are not a new experience for Milton Court residents. Throughout the 1980’s the estate was targeted by a plethora of government sponsored renewal agencies at work in deprived areas of London and urban Britain. This chapter highlights the changing context and process of renewal project activities on or affecting Milton Court Estate, and documents the basic components of the Estate Action renewal plan 1992-2002.
Legacy of Policy Interventions
In the preceding decade the widely held view was that inner city areas were places where economic, social and environmental distress were most concentrated. Government responded to this with a series of urban policy instruments which continuously switched their focus, reflecting shifting targets and political priorities.
The urban programmes of the 1960s and 1970s had given weight to community-based projects and problems of social deprivation, and then to economic and infrastructural needs met by partnerships of central and local agencies. From the 1980s however there was a switch to revenue and capital expenditure programmes which reinforced previous emphasis on economic and infrastructure aspects, with a difference.
Partnerships between the private sector and central government were emphasised through creation of new agencies such as the Urban Development Corporations. New policy instruments were introduced to "lever" private sector investment into urban areas through, for example Enterprise Zones and a sequence of Urban Development Grants, Urban Regeneration Grants, and City Grants.
In the late 1980s, newly-created bodies such as City Action Teams and Task Forces were added to locally-based agencies to introduce
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an element of co-ordination. The government sponsored Action for Cities (AfC) programme, brought together a variety of programmes from across a range of government departments –among them the Departments of Environment, Trade and Industry, and the Home Office.9
Milton Court was one beneficiary of these renewal interventions as the Borough Council sought to prioritise and target areas of special need and harness government support (cf. LBL Hyde et al 1989). One of the earliest renewal interventions on Milton Court was spearheaded by the Priority Estates Project (PEP), a Department of Environment initiative.
Faced with the declining popularity of many council estates, Lewisham Council received (PEP) assistance to improve living conditions on run-down council estates which were considered difficult-to-let. Support was also provided for “community policing that placed policemen on the beat on foot, in local project offices, and meetings with residents and teenagers” (DOE Power 1982; cf DOE Power 1984).
In addition PEP aided the Council’s efforts to carry out its landlord’s responsibilities. This involved setting up a local management office, the Woodpecker Neighbourhood Office, to manage rent collection, repairs, letting property and maintenance of housing and the environment of the estate, and to give tenants a chance to exercise maximum control over their homes and neighbourhood.
The Housing Investment Programme (HIP), another government initiative, aided improvements on the estate. HIP contributed funding for much of the physical improvements, with the exception of landscaping and community facilities.
9 These included the Urban Programme, Urban Development Corporation, Enterprise Zones, Industrial and Commercial Improvement Areas, Urban Development Grant, Urban Regeneration Grant, City Grant, City Action Teams, Estate Action, Safer Cities, Ethnic Minorities Business Initiative, English Estates, Task Force, Housing Investment Programme, Regional Selective Assistance/Regional Development Grant II, European Regional Development Fund/Social Fund, and the Rate Support Grant.
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Crime and fear of crime on the estate were investigated by the Safer Cities Unit, as part of a major crime prevention programme funded by Government. The Unit’s Milton Court Report demonstrated that residents experienced problems in respect to personal safety and the security of their homes and it highlighted attempts at reducing crime and fear of crime on the estate (LBL MCR 1990).
The Community Refurbishment Scheme (CRS), another government initiative, sought to encourage employment of jobless residents to carry out improvements on their own estates, to become involved in tenant management groups. The CRS also encouraged the formation of renovation schemes in partnership with private builders.
Further Central Government initiatives affecting the estate included the Inner Task Force to provide funding for projects supporting job creation, education and training places, and business advice, and City Action Teams (CATS). Both agencies sought to co-ordinate Government actions on urban regeneration at the local estate level, and to act as the key contact point for business and voluntary and community organisations, and to maximise the contribution of the private sector to local renewal activities
Nevertheless the life and conditions on Milton Court continued to deteriorate, and the scene was set for a major concerted renewal of the estate.
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4. ASSESSING THE GAP – PLANNED RENEWAL VS COMMUNITY NEEDS
Estate Action on Milton Court was a mixture of physical, social, environmental, economic and urban policy interests. But to what extent have the relevant concerns of Black and ethnic minority households been reflected, considered, and delivered by the plan? Utilising examples from previous chapters, a conclusion is drawn about the greater or lesser degree of association between the local needs of these households and the estate action plan.
As demonstrated, the problems identified on Milton Court are inter- related and collectively form a hostile environment obstructing household and community development.
Milton Court: The “Problem” Estate
Multiple deprivation Structural defects and obsolescence
Inadequate retail and Restricted employment enterprise facilities opportunities
Conflicting motor and Inadequate social training pedestrian movement facilities especially for youth, women and children
Insecure blocks and communal Inhospitable external areas` environment
In practice, Estate Action on Milton Court was a mixture of physical, social, environmental, economic and urban policy interests as part of an overall strategy endorsed by the Department of the Environment.
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The Estate Action plan, upon close examination, exhibits a number of flaws. “Bricks and mortar” take precedence over people-based strategies. Physical and land use changes are given paramount importance and showcase mainly the interests of developers, contractors, professionals, local authorities and housing associations.
Many projects are one-off strategies, initiated without surveys of developmental needs or guidelines to measure the success or benefits of renewal to inhabitants. In an area of domestic overcrowding and homelessness, economic distress and high unemployment, there is no real focus on alleviating poverty and increasing economic opportunity.
Activities with a purportedly social interest, such as childcare facilities, have an economic overlay. Childcare primarily benefits parents in employment or with a constant supply of disposable income. The major achievements have been the demolition of the majority of tower blocks, and their replacement with low-rise houses built on the vacant sites and new small green spaces.
The flaws are traceable to a number of design faults. What is needed at the outset is to place resident’s concerns into a dynamic contemporary context. This will enable an understanding of the constraints and possibilities of changing planning policies, urban institutions and processes.
A salutary step forward would be to define “the problem” as what must be done to better position local people, Black and ethnic minorities and others, for habitational, economic and social gains. Potential solutions must include innovative policies and design scenarios that promote social integration.
The Plan Results
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Building improvements, Managed demolition, modernisation consultation/participation and low-rise new housing and information exchange
Density reduction Strengthened Council estate office
Remodelling traffic and Training in building trades pedestrian ways
Landscaping Community service facilities
The evidence shows significant imbalances. Grassroots community, tenants and voluntary organisations play a subordinate role. Social programmes are ill-defined, ad hoc and under-financed. The consultation and participation arrangements are rudimentary. None are based on a notion of fundamental reform of existing institutional structures to allow for an increase in residents' control and management of housing property.
Some Specific Points to Consider
Having said this, conversations with resident informants reveal the limitations of the estate plans.
There is a noticeable “feel good” factor about the estate’s renewal and refurbishment, but there is no real proof that the improvement of the image and reputation of the estate has been enhanced. Concern is expressed among some job seekers about the negative images still associated with the area. Employers can easily trace and red-line the estate’s “undesirable” characteristics by its London SE14 postal address.
There is evidence of reduced density by selected demolition of tower blocks, but this has been at the expense of the displacement and dispersal of many resident Black households.
Encouraging tenant and resident participation in estate management and regeneration remains a problem. There is no proof that the membership of the tenants associations reflect the
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ethnic and social mix of the estate neighbourhoods they represent.
There has been a diversification in the housing mix and tenure, with the possibility of expanded home ownership and a wider choice of housing type. But this may have been at the expense of moving out those who could not afford to remain, while attracting newcomers who can afford entry.
As far as the plan’s vaunted connection with the Deptford City Challenge is concerned, there are further points to be considered. The DCC funds helped to support and “leverage” a number of area improvements and “add-ons” to the estate’s renewal: a jobs training centre, a construction scheme for building contractors to recruit local residents, housing works with private sector involvement, sports and leisure facilities and forums to hear the views of business, tenants, residents, and community groups.
But there is no reason to believe that the projects can be sustained in future solely from scarce municipal resources. The DCC, was a short-life agency, and concluded its five-year activities in 1997.
Its proposed successors, the Lewisham Challenge Partnership (LCP), may not specifically include the needs of Black and minority households in Milton Court in its bid for financial resources from the Government’s Single Regeneration Budget and Millennium Funding.
In the same vein, there is no guarantee that the DCC-initiated Deptford Community Forum and the Deptford Residents and Tenants Forum will continue for any length of time, nor increase their membership and credibility among the Black majority of households on the Milton Court Estate (DCC 1997).
Areas of Concern
This being said, there are a number of areas of concern that reflect the mismatch between the plan and needs among Black and ethnic minority households on the estate.
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Education
The education of neighbourhood youth poses special challenges. The head teacher of the Deptford Green secondary school on the estate reports that 36 per cent of pupils are living in one parent families, and that more than 30 languages other than English are spoken in their homes (LBL Education 1996).
Significant proportions of pupils aged 14-16 years old are disadvantaged or disaffected or at risk of poor educational attainment. Major problems of under-achievement and lack of self- esteem among pupils, especially Black male students, require amelioration. Furthermore there is a need for locally-based waged training opportunities for older youth, recruitment of local mentoring staff, co-operation with area colleges, and external funding for under-resourced educational activities.
Crime and Justice
The Estate Action approach aimed to contain crime through design changes leading to a “safe city” image. But as one report has pointed out “there appears to be little space for design modification which would be other than cosmetic in effect. The most promising approach lies in improvements to service provision in respect of housing management and community development” (LBL MCR 1990:18).
Health
Local estate-based health and caring facilities are needed, along with community health workers with the requisite backgrounds language and communication skills (DHC 1997). As one health informant pointed out, there is a crucial and observable relationship between poor housing and poor health on estates like Milton Court. Many services are inappropriately equipped and understaffed to meet the needs of Black and ethnic minority people (DHC 1995).
Social Organisations
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In the Deptford area, scores of Black and ethnically based community voluntary groups and individuals provide an essential but often ignored support mechanism for Milton Court and neighbourhood residents. Self-directed African Caribbean, Asian and Christian and Muslim groups offer services to working parents and their children, the elderly, and for mentoring youth, counselling ex- offenders, and a range of pastoral and religious activities.10 Procedures are necessary to draw them into active consultation and involvement in the delivery and management of social and physical renewal.
Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
A few minority-managed businesses, a small shopping centre and news agent, are noticeable on the estate. But there is a latent, unexploited potential for expanding non-professional self- employment enterprises – in building, car hire and taxi driving, and contract nursing, for example --run by estate tenants both on the estate and on the streets nearby.11 There is a need to plan the involvement of local Black entrepreneurs with access to the appropriate skills and partners, properties, contracts and support of commercial businesses and financial institutions.
Participation
Studies of tenant satisfaction with the estate and its renewal point to a very low response rate. New planning strategies are needed to identify and include the views of Black tenants (DCCEP 1994:50- 52). Furthermore, Black and ethnic minority groups are under-
10 For example, the African Caribbean Elderly Action Group, African Community Action Society, Asian Group, Asian Multi-Cultural Association, Association of Women Refugees from Vietnam, Vietnam Refugee Community/Elders Club, Black Parents Education Group, Childeric Steel Band, Indo-Chinese Language Support, Black Mental Health Group, Marsha Phoenix Trust Hostel for Girls and Women, South London Turkish Cypriot Society, Yoruba Community in Great Britain (Deptford Community Forum, Voluntary Sector Network Mailing List, mimeo private communication).
11 See the findings of survey of business organisations such as the Afro-Caribbean Business Association and the Deptford Business Development Association reported in GFA Consultancy (1996), Into the Mainstream: Action Research. Final Report.
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represented in the estate’s tenant associations, management committees and renewal initiatives at all levels.
As a result the instruments of local democracy that are expected to serve as “voices of the people” do not reflect the social and ethnic mix of the estate. There is a need to draw representatives of the relevant communities into the leadership of local consultation, management and information diffusion activities.
Key Issues
In summary, the key issues relevant to resident households are as follows:
Improving job chances and employability
Social and educational enhancement for youth
Increasing special health provision
Support for local leadership and voluntary and community organisations
Opening up communication with public and private sector decision makers.
Fair procedures for decanting and rehousing Black tenants displaced by change.
Finally, the findings of this assessment suggest that issues of minority access need to be addressed if there is to be a bridging of the gap between “the rhetoric of equality and the realities of experience” (DCCEP Year Three Process Report 1995:51).
Conclusions
Estate Action has been a major and influential programme on the estate since 1992. It has been a catalyst for estate improvements, for increased tenant involvement, and for decentralised management, as well as for training and employment initiatives.
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However, given the finding of this study, estate actions have not significantly promoted renewal that specifically benefits, generally and directly, Black and ethnic minority residents and tenants. Furthermore, it has not harnessed the capabilities and energies of the resident skilled workers and professionals. It has not supported popular aspirations for education and training, and the vibrant social networks and voluntary groups available on the estate and in the area.
In comparing the need and plan profiles, the results show that none of the aspects of the plan make reference to Black and ethnic minority groups and their needs; none are directly targeted towards them; and no potential beneficial results are reported that are directly beneficial to them.
Furthermore, the plan documents failed to cover key social justice housing issues. Importantly, there was no information about the equal opportunity practices required for implementation of the plan. Moreover, there were no target numbers for persons from various ethnic groups who were to be, or had been, served by the Estate Action programme.12
Two crucial areas of plan implementation reveal these points quite clearly. There was no evidence that strategic consideration had been given to the potential of the estate action plan to improve the situation of Black and ethnic minorities. Furthermore, there was no indication of the operational, organisational and administrative procedures necessary for effective delivery of the plan’s benefits to the significant majority of the estate’s tenants.
Finally, there is no indication that the planners and policy makers have considered the long-term benefits or negative impacts of the physical works on the majority Black tenant population. For example, the reinvention of the estate from a dangerous maze of “pedways” and flats to a community of maisonettes where tenants
12 It is recognised that publicly available plan documents may not represent the whole picture of the process of policy formulation, enquiry and review.
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have their own thresholds, front steps and gardens, means very little if Blacks are displaced by incoming better-off whites, and unable to benefit from these changes.
Mr. K.F., as chair of the Woodpecker Neighbourhood Committee, previewed this concern when he stated “Change breeds a mixture of hope and fear. Demolishing five tower blocks as the current proposals suggest, even though welcoming breeds the fear of displacement from a community we all love” (LBL Milton Court Estate Action News October 1992).
In combination, these factors suggest a substantial negative effect upon the estate’s Black and ethnic minority households. The plan failures, if not addressed, create biases towards a state of underdevelopment, and induce patterns of inherent social instability. In effect, they prevent the emergence of a highly motivated participatory population, and inhibit the full use of human and material resources.
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5. RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS
Planning future innovative approaches to urban regeneration and estate renewal will require attention to three themes often neglected in the visioning of programmes and projects:
ensuring minority access; restructuring area renewal policies and programmes; and revising the roles of policy makers, professionals and communities. This chapter re- introduces the themes of the study based on a review of the research literature, and draws some final conclusions.
Ensuring Minority Access
The urban condition of many Black and ethnic minorities is marked by extreme social and environmental deficits, as noted earlier. Yet, today the challenge posed by their presence in multiply disadvantaged social housing estates does not appear to have high priority.
Few planning authorities have policies reflecting the “housing, employment or safety or security” needs of Black and ethnic minority residents (RTPI 1993). Estate regeneration strategies show a similar lack of minority focus in housing tenure and management, employment, enterprise and income, and social and environmental regeneration (cf. Stewart and Taylor 1995).
Moreover, Government forward-planning research document show a negative trend. Not one of more than one hundred current, recent and projected government housing and urban projects directly addresses the ethnic minority dimension of renewal strategy (DOE 1996).
This missing component is crucial for the purposes of this study. The absence of a “race and ethnic dimension” is often said to be due to a “colour-blind” or “value-free” commitment by renewal authorities and planners (CRER, Solomon 1989). This is offered as proof of a “non-racialist” perspective. Namely, the expectation that programme benefits will trickle down into households and wage
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packets of all residents equally, without regard to colour or ethnicity.
However, this study shows this view is seriously flawed. A generalised “colour-blind” approach fails to encompass the range of needs that exists between minority and majority communities. It is inadequate to deal with different needs within different ethnic minorities (DOE, Hausner 1992). Furthermore, being “colour blind” fails to take into account the need to redress the well-documented racism within the housing sector (Henderson and Karn 1987; Morris and Winn 1990; cf. Rex, John 1981).
Clearly, some projects have general benefits for all residents such as housing refurbishment. Housebound or working mothers with toddlers benefit from new social services such as crèches. These are beneficial to all residents, including Black and minority ethnic groups. However, wherever these groups are in preponderance and doubly disadvantaged by inequalities and low incomes, their particular requirements and “special needs” await redress. This point is crucial to this study and merits a further remark.
By special needs, this study means projects that focus on needs of particular concern to, and defined by, Black and ethnic minorities, and that publicise and translate these concerns and intentions into practice.
Such projects will of course cover a range of possibilities in all levels and aspects of the renewal process. Projects of particular assistance may include the provision and funding of social and economic activities such as African Caribbean and Asian women and youth groups. Heritage-enhancing music, arts and writing projects need support. Sickle cell anaemia advisory centres are urgently required13. More facilities for small business start-ups, for English as a Foreign Language courses are needed along with multi-language communications media and publications
13 Sickle cell disease is a blood condition affecting Afro-Caribbean and some Mediterranean people, see Franklin, Ian (1990), Sickle Cell, Disease: A Guide for Patients, Carers and Health Workers. London: Faber and Faber.
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The concern expressed here is that projects should be introduced and dedicated to local participation in, and leadership by, the Black and ethnic minority groups themselves. From this point of view, co- operation with the Black voluntary sector is essential.14 Self-help, self-managed groups and their support agencies serve to attract and reach out to people not only as targets of projects but as participants, managers, leaders and stake-holders. Black and ethnic minority groups gain when there is support for their small voluntary and community groups and networks upon which they depend as part of their coping and developmental strategies. They lose when training and self-management and access to labour markets are unavailable to them, and when their self-support networks are ruptured.
Recognition of the attributes of minority cultures and their place in urban design has slowly gained favour in professional circles (Architects’ Journal, BFGF 1993); Architecture Today, Gorst 1993:34-36, 39-40, 43). Indeed, in some Government agencies during the 1990s the phrase “special benefit” programmes for ethnic minorities came into prominence. This was accompanied by guidelines for “promoting initiatives of benefit to ethnic minorities”, to “support the traditions and identity of minority ethnic groups, and to introduce “ethnically-sensitive methods of service delivery” (DOE 1991 inter alia:31; and DOE Bidding Guidance 1996:2).
Despite this, it is evident in the case of Milton Court that policy makers and professionals did not attach explicitly stated ethnic minority strategies to the renewal scheme, nor did they enrich the scheme with specific studies of the needs of ethnic minority communities (cf. DOE 1993:6). What seems to be missing, as some experts have begun to point out, is a regeneration approach which puts forward the case for clear and targeted socially- and culturally-
14 One broad umbrella organisation is SIA, The National Development Agency for the Black and Minority Ethnic Voluntary Sector, a voluntary organisation funded jointly by the Home Office and the Department of the Environment. See SIA (1994), From City Challenge to the Single Regeneration Budget: A Black Perspective, by Mike Medas. London: SIA.
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sensitive guidelines (Building 1993, Ridout:5-32; cf. Regional Studies 1993, and Hoe Lim: 589-95).
Planning with socially responsible guidelines makes sound economic sense say some professionals. First of all, cities with excluded minorities are losing a whole range of benefits from their skills, creativity, low-cost voluntarism, neighbourhood renewal efforts, and active citizenship. Secondly, concentrated Black and ethnic minority disadvantage imposes heavy economic and social costs. This is evident in dampened economic demand, poverty traps, lower labour market efficiency, less than optimal uses of public and private spaces and resources, and higher costs in dealing with social health and welfare (DCC Health First 1995; cf. APA 1996; LRC 1997; and Castles and Miller 1993:195-230).
In sum, ensuring Black and minority access through the recognition of their specific needs and potential contributions is not clearly evident in the renewal plans of Government and local authorities nor in proposed official research and estate action agendas. Exploring this gap is a fruitful line for research enquiry. It can be hypothesised that even where ethnic minority strategies exist they will be at best side-lined sub-sets of broader regeneration strategies rather than the driving force for improvements (cf. DOE 1993:6).
Small Area Studies and Housing Estate Actions in Urban Policy
Restructuring area renewal at the level of the social housing estate is a second theme of this study. Its importance lies partly in the historical faults of small area studies.
Local area studies of problems affecting the living, working and re- creative environments within cities has long held the interest of policy makers, professionals, and social researchers.15 A style of
15 The canonical works of Engels, Mayhew, and Booth are precursors of all contemporary policy investigations into social ills in Britain’s urban and industrial communities. The innovative goals of neighbourhood housing and stable communities professed by Ebenezer Howard and Henrietta Barnett offered solutions to the poverty and social unrest feared by policy makers in the early 1900s. Throughout the inter-war years the problems of housing the masses quickly and at low-cost continued to agitate political and social thought. In the post-war era the rhetoric of “community” revitalised
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statutory and professional planning evolved that encouraged public policy actions for social good. Though not without faults, planning in the post-war period sought to restructure cities and neighbourhoods on social as well as economic, environmental and architectural principles (Ravetz 1980).
This social orientation was replaced in recent years by governmental emphasis on market-driven urban public policies and housing estate policies (cf. Hambleton and Thomas 1995:28, 32; JRF, Dorling 1996; Keith 1995:360ff). The major dividing line came with the onset of the Thatcher years. From the 1980s the Conservative Government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced new revenue and capital expenditure programmes along with policy instruments to “lever” private sector investment into urban areas, for example Enterprise Zones, and a sequence of Urban Development Grants, Urban Regeneration Grants, and City Grants.
Indeed, estate actions for renewal were undergirded by an urban housing renewal unit launched in1985, and later transformed into Estate Action, to “help authorities to maximise private funding opportunities” (DOE, Press Notice, 1985). In the 1990s government urban policy sought to make areas more attractive to businesses as well as residents by tackling dereliction, bringing buildings into new uses, preparing sites and encouraging development, and improving the quality of housing and safety.
politics and social science. Lewis Silkin, the Minister of Town and Country Planning in 1946 spoke of the need to build up balanced communities as a bulwark against social fragmentation and declining local support networks. In the 1950s case studies by the Institute of Community Studies in East London noted the loss of “community” and neighbourhood working class cultures and influenced government thinking (Young and Willmott 1957). In the 1960s the Centre for Urban Studies, University College London marshalled a massive array of areal and statistical evidence on London’s housing needs for presentation to a major Government committee (Glass and Westergaard 1965). In the following decade notable social policy studies by the Centre for Environmental Studies highlighted the restricted housing and job choices evident in emerging “ghetto” areas (Donnison and Eversley 1973) The classic inner city studies of consultant architects and planners (DOE 1977) contributed to government policies targeting areas of concentrated social and racial disadvantage for planned renewal.
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There are however two broad aspects of the ideologies of the 1980s and 1990s that are crucial for understanding the relevance of this study. Targets for social housing were increasingly based on ‘market’ rather than ‘social’ criteria in the “neo-liberal” Thatcher years (Ambrose 1994: Ch.8).
The supporting legislation established a shift of great consequence in the relations between the state, market and citizens (Ambrose 1994:12). The Housing Act of 1980 offered the ‘right-to-buy” to council tenants, and the Housing Act of 1988 assisted housing associations to take over local authority estates – the clear aim being “to run down the stock of housing owned by local authorities as quickly as possible by substituting new private-or voluntary- sector owners” (Ambrose 1944:117ff; cf. Thornley 1991).
The grave consequences for the composition and circumstances of the social housing sector were apparent in the 1990s. “The proportion of British housing owned by local authorities is around 20 per cent. Much of the better council stock has been sold and the remainder is beginning to look like a ‘residual’ form of tenure – a suitable resting place for those on state benefits and least able to compete in an otherwise marketised system” (Ambrose 1994: 117ff).
Furthermore, the location and quality of the environment and related educational and social services available to social housing users became based on income rather than need (Ambrose 1994:13). The broad results were therefore at a considerable philosophical distance from past visions of social and political justice.
Two aspects of the changed policy goals are relevant for this study. Government’s market-oriented urban public policies fuelled its policies for the public rented housing sector and the housing estates. The impact was felt at the local level through a hierarchy of command strategies affecting and ordering the relationships between government ministries, their power and finance, and
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housing agencies, local authorities, the private sector, and tenants (Pinto 1992:279).
Furthermore, Government urban policies placed pressures on local government housing agencies to speed up allocations procedures and reduce vacancy rates. These pressures in turn acted as powerful incentives for local authorities to place distressed, vulnerable and disadvantaged households into "“difficult-to-let” and least desirable estates, with grave consequences.16 And this provides the link to, and to some degree the motivation, to encourage Black entry into the worst local housing areas and housing estates.17
It is clear that further study is needed on the impact of Estate Action on council housing, management and effectiveness. One researcher has highlighted two crucial points: (Pinto 1992:264- 302), namely:
the lack of adequate profiles of people and estates which could provide an understanding of the types of problems they face; and
The lack of integration of these concerns in plan proposals to counter the poor social, physical and environmental conditions, and the lack of adequate client-centred management styles and procedures.
16 New conflicts and pressures arising from policies based on market-oriented competition tended to undermine local autonomy and effective strategy-making, according to Jacobs, Keith (1997), “Contextualising Local Housing Policy: A Case Study of the Comprehensive Estates Initiative in the London Borough of Hackney”. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, February 1997)
17 Work in Tower Hamlets documents how the drive for good “housing management (i.e. to keep acceptance rates high and voids low)” resulted in unequal housing allocation practices. See Deborah Phillips (1986), What Price Equality? A Report on the Allocation of GLC housing in Tower Hamlets. London: GLC Housing Research and Policy Report No.9.
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These inadequacies of area renewal and estate action policies are confirmed in the present work. Further study is necessary of how they are manifested and resolved in districts of significant Black and ethnic minority concentration in inner London boroughs.
Policy makers, Professionals and Communities
The “neo-liberal” ideologies of recent years placed new responsibilities on the shoulders of all key actors in the renovation of cities and the worst social housing areas: policy makers, professionals and communities. The problems and potentials for changing the roles of key actors is the subject of this concluding section.
Policy makers
In major cities like London, as policy makers rush to prominence with image-boosting schemes and projects a seemingly intractable issue emerges, namely “defining the problem” of estate renewal to be addressed. It is evident that what is considered a problem depends on the points of view and interests of the various groups involved in public debate.
City authorities and private businesses may see “the problem” in terms of the necessary and profitable actions required to deal with housing estates and areas which are socially and economically burdensome. Their options tend to focus on introducing new buildings and land uses, high tech industries, middle class housing developments, and new traffic management schemes attractive to car-owning consumers.
In contrast, many local communities and their supporters see “the problem” as how to devise appropriate strategies and actions which involve residents and meet their multi-cultural and developmental
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needs. These views were highlighted in a much publicised report by Lord Scar man on the disturbances in Brixton, a prominent area of Black residence: “Local communities should be more fully involved in the decisions which affect them.
Moreover, a ‘top-down’ approach to regeneration does not seem to have worked. Local communities must be fully and effectively involved in planning, in the provision of local services, and in the management and financing of specific projects (The Scarman Report 1982).
Professionals
How planning professionals and academic researchers will respond to issues of problem definition, analysis and implementation is another important factor. Almost two decades ago, Alison Ravetz spoke of the need for “a new consciousness, or conceptualisation of the problem” and it would be “culture-respecting” (Ravetz 1980: 340 and 345).
These views should find a place in the education of reflective practitioners, says Donald Schon, and lead to a new design for teaching and learning (Schon 1987).
Peter Marcuse in a penetrating critique of post modernist planning and architecture describes practitioners in these disciplines as part of the urban problem (Marcuse 1995:243-253). Nevertheless, despite their frailties, Marcuse believes a reconstructed planning discipline can play a positive role in “remedial public action” for change in socially and racially disadvantaged urban areas. City planners and urban designers should use their good offices, Marcuse suggests, to “reduce inequalities, open gates, level walls, permit free and non-hierarchical relations among residents of a city”.
Setting Agendas with Communities
How Marcuse’s caveat can be successfully implemented will involve setting agendas with communities. This entails remedying not only the design features of system-built 1960s and 1970s high and low rise blocks but also addressing a range of problematical features associated with the popular participation.
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Active involvement of local people in the regeneration process is vital for good reasons.
They are the best sources of information, ideas and experiences; and they are the targeted participants in the process They are ultimately the beneficiaries; and they make effective partners in getting things going, completed and sustained in the future. Best practices for planning renewal in inner city areas of significant Black and ethnic minority concentration would therefore seek to:
Profile the minority community and their voluntary organisations, and establish structures for direct consultation and participation.
Review and revise corporate policies and practices in the light of best-practice techniques for community empowerment, equality of opportunity, and equity;
Set targets and implement specific goals and timetables, for all relevant departments and levels, with respect to hiring, promotion and upgrading of Black and ethnic minorities within the planning establishments; and
Commission the necessary applied social scientific research, data collection and dissemination of information on Black and ethnic minority communities that will highlight their contributions;
Researching how planned interventions can achieve these objectives will involve a portfolio of investigations of which this study may count as one part.
Conclusion
It is hoped that the lines of enquiry opened up in this thesis will provide a contribution to current and on-going research in urban studies and stimulate further investigations of how research on local actions relate to national urban policy issues and debates (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Area Regeneration Programme, Carly 1996:18). This research thrust will be important for two reasons.
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In all probability social housing renewal and new building in the future will be produced by “partnerships” which must involve, and take into account, a range of interests: tenants, as well as public and private financial institutions, local councils, developers, housing associations, and urban professionals. This is a far cry from the recent past when architects and authorities produced and handed down their favoured schemes to tenants, without their full consultation. New perceptions and skills are needed to manage the new process.
Furthermore, the social geography of housing estates is changing rapidly and becoming more and more the home of a disadvantaged section of London’s Black and ethnic minorities. Those who plan future urban renewal must be able to react quickly with innovative responses. There is a grave danger that the quality and efficacy of renewal in these new policy conditions will be undermined if the needs, cultures and creative potential of local resident ethnic minorities are not effectively engaged and addressed. Should this occur there will be serious ramifications.
The validity of Lord Scarman’s words on the Brixton disturbances ring true today in the unquiet zones of London and urban Britain: “Inner city areas are not human deserts: they possess a wealth of voluntary effort and goodwill. It would be wise to put this human capital to good use” (Scarman 1981:159-60).
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Appendices
Overview Migration to the advanced industrial societies is one of the powerful agents fuelling the millennial thrust of global cities.18 What is not clear however in London with its large concentrations of West Indians, Africans and Asians in obsolescent public housing is the answer to an elementary question. Will the patricians, policy makers and professionals renounce renewal policies that impact negatively on Black residents, and plan to promote urban values of cultural diversity and achievement?
Structure of the Study Presentation Chapter 1 highlights essential aspects of Black migration, settlement growth and urban experience in inner city London. Chapter 2 describes the Milton Court Estate, its environment and people on the eve of regeneration. Chapter 3 identifies key elements in the changing context and process of renewal activity on Milton Court Estate. Chapter 4 assess the gap between local needs and plan responses. Finally, Chapter 5 reviews the findings and draws conclusions about the study proposition and themes.
The Appendix contains a methodological note, with the lists of data profile contents, and resource persons and contacts, a glossary, maps, tables, and housing and design plans. The Bibliography lists the documents used and relevant literature, and is presented in two sections -- one of academic books and journals, the other of “grey literature” from various statutory and voluntary organisations and community groups.
18 Transnational migratory labour as well as hypermobile capital are two features of late 20th century urban centres that play a powerful role in the production and transformation of international economic relations. See Sassen, S. (1991), The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Cf. City: an analysis of trends, cultures, theory, policy and action. Special issue on global perspectives, 3-4, June 1996, London; and Girardet, Herbert (1996), The GAIA Atlas of Cities: New Directions for Sustainable Urban Living. London: Gaia Books Ltd.
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This study does not seek to answer this policy issue which must find its resolution as part of Government’s urban and equal opportunity options over the next five years.19 What is presented here is a study of local needs and the prospects for planning innovative renewal. It derives its urgency from a surge of academic interest in Britain in the study of decision making about cities funded in large part by large grant making establishments (Hambleton and Thomas 1995).20 It is widely recognised that the proliferation of government urban programmes affecting inner city areas resemble “a patchwork quilt of complexity and idiosyncrasy” (Hambleton and Thomas 1995:3).
Moreover, past policy interventions have been challenged by three emergent factors. Concentrations of racial and socially vulnerable groups in public housing have dramatically increased. However, their lack of integration into renewal programmes raises questions about the limitations of “colour-blind” approaches to service provision and delivery (cf. Solomos and Back 1995:201). There is also evidence of flawed area regeneration policies and strategies affecting local communities (Keith 1995:360ff; Short 1984; Atkinson and Moon 1994; and Atkinson 1995).
As a consequence urban authorities and professionals are under pressure to predict and respond to changes and to update their tools of social diagnosis and public action (Marcuse 1995:243-253; McGregor and McConnachie 1995; Taylor 1995; Stewart and Taylor 1995). Nowhere are these challenges more apparent than in the inner London social housing areas of significant Black and ethnic minority concentration.
The Study Proposition This study examines the proposition that designing innovative urban regeneration and renewal in an inner city London social housing
19 “Race Relations: The new Labour Government”, speech by Mike O’Brien, minister for race relations, Home Office, to the conference “Celebrating Diversity: Ethnic Minorities in European Cities”, 5-6 June 1997, the Cumberland Hotel, London.
20 Urban policy and academic research agendas of grant making foundations include social integration and social exclusion targeted by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (1995) Thematic Priorities. Swindon: ESRC-Economic and Social Research, Council, and strategic approaches to urban regeneration and social and economic exclusion supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), Area Regeneration Programme and Themes (1996).
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estate with significant concentrations of Black and ethnic minority residents requires attention to three dominant themes:
1. Ensuring minority access and involvement in beneficial change,
2. Restructuring integrated area and neighbourhood renewal, and
3. Revising the role of policy makers, professionals and communities.
The proposition, thus stated, governed the choice of study location and the organisation of the research techniques and data collection so that the relevant facts could be empirically established and verified.
People, Place and Social Housing London, the most populous Black and ethnic minority centre in Britain, is at once a premier example of these issues and debates. In a city that is home to nearly half the nation’s ethnic minorities, according to 1991 census information compiled by the London Research Centre (Lewis 1996), and where the ethnic minority population is set to grow to over 40 per cent in five boroughs – Newham, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Harrow, and Ealing –there is evidence that:
• a rising third of Black groups rent from a local authority (CRE Fact sheets, No.4, 1995, 10 Housing);
• concentrations of Afro-Caribbean, African and Asian households are most evident in multi-problem estates (Department of the Environment DOE 1984: 11), and
• minority households range from thirty per cent to a majority of sixty per cent of all households in some areas and estates like Angell Town, Milton Court and Stonebridge, according to local borough studies and census returns.
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Black housing clusters in London By the mid-1990s, a distinctive pattern of urban Black experience had emerged. Large numbers of Blacks in inner city London are residents of disadvantaged social housing estates. These include a number that are in urgent need of physical, social and environmental renewal (Source: Government Office for London, Estate Action Schemes in Inner London 1996).
Borough: Estate:
Hackney: Trowbridge and Holly Street
Haringey: Broadwater Farm
Brent: Chalkhill, Stonebridge
Lambeth: Angell Town and Stockwell Park
Southwark: North Peckham
Lewisham: Milton Court, Evelyn, Pepys, and Cross field
Tower Hamlets: Barkantine
The first Black residents in many of these estates were proud of their achievement. One new resident at Angell Town estate, Brixton recalls that: “I thought it was wonderful, so modern. The walkways in the sky meant you didn’t have to walk on the ground, there was covered parking for the cars we didn’t have, and the front doors opened on to the bedrooms”. But once in the first tenants “realised that there was a snag: the estate didn’t work. The front doors opened on to the pedestrian walkways, but there were no windows there, so you didn’t know your neighbours and no one could see the burglars” (Architects’ Journal 1993, and Cowan). Inevitably this build up frustration and resentment added to the deep-seated problems of multi-disadvantage facing vulnerable and marginalised residents on run-down estates (Department of the Environment 1993, Priority Estates Project Cost-Effectiveness Study).
Milton Court estate, the study location, lies in Deptford, Lewisham one of London’s major districts of African Caribbean settlement. This section will briefly indicate key themes of their historical and contemporary settlement and social experience, their legacy of
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mutual aid, coping strategies, culture building, and resistance (Anim-Addo 1995).
Blacks in Lewisham form part of London’s history of ports and docks, and of slavery and capitalism. Their contemporary history forms a vital part of Black urbanisation in Britain. Now, post-war Black settlements in social housing areas are dependent on public housing and resources, and much of their recent plight has been made more difficult as the port-base and manufacturing trades on which the borough and the Thames-side economy depends have all but vanished (London Borough of Lewisham Unitary Development Plan).
By all accounts, government census statistics, health and poverty studies, Lewisham is one of the most deprived of London’s boroughs, and in the northern wards where large numbers of Blacks and Asians live they face major problems of unemployment (Hyde et al 1989; and Office of National Statistics 1996:section 6). In these wards the unemployment rates show great contrasts with the white population: Black Caribbean 25.5%, Black African 29.0%, Pakistani 19.4%, Bangladeshi 22.2%, and Chinese 28.0%, in comparison with whites 15.2% (London Borough of Lewisham LEED, Economic Statistical Digest 1995/96).
Methodological Approach At the outset it was determined that the chosen social housing estate and residents should have a mix of English, Afro-Caribbean, African, Asian and other ethnic households. It should exhibit multiple social, economic and environmental problems, and be designated for regeneration and renewal by central and local government authorities.
Furthermore, the renewal plan should identify targets, beneficiaries, remedial actions and options for development. It should introduce investment from public, private, professional and community sources, and operate at the neighbourhood level with wider district, borough, city and national implications.
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Good basic data and available research on ethnic minority issues was essential to describe the local population and plan. Ultimately this last criterion governed the final choice of Milton Court Estate in Deptford, London Borough of Lewisham, for an in-depth study. Though there were a number of estates in inner London that might have been considered, among them Angell Town, Brixton and Broad water Farm, Tottenham.
However, Milton Court in Deptford had a critical mass of renewal actions, resources and expertise available locally. There were exemplary estate-based regeneration initiatives by the local authority and a government-funded Estate Action programme. Additionally, the estate was in an area targeted by the Deptford City Challenge (DCC), a government-funded regeneration agency, and there was an accessible research resource at the Deptford City Challenge Evaluation Project (DCCEP) office, in the Centre for Urban and Community Studies (CUCR), Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Data Collection and Interviews with Key Informants To ensure the study approach benefited from other work and was grounded in the literature, a review of current academic, consultancy and government agency research was undertaken (key publications are listed in the Bibliography). One focus was urban policy and housing renewal and race-related issues and another was on research procedures and techniques of design, data collection, impact assessment and demonstration of results.
Field investigations were carried out by the author between January and July 1997 in the London Borough of Lewisham, Deptford, and Milton Court Estate. Two procedures were initiated in pursuance of the study objectives.
1. Primary and secondary data, area statistics and written sources about the estate and renewal were collected.21 These included
21 Area statistics are useful for targeting estates for remedial actions and policy intervention for renewal. It is necessary however to recognise that the dreary image often pictured by official statistics does not do credit to the positive aspects of daily life, social organisation and self-help among residents.
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central government and local authority documents, census data and statistics, residents’ association newsletters and bulletins, as well as renewal plans and site maps provided by planning and architects’ offices, and historical information obtained from municipal archives and local studies offices.
2. Site visits were undertaken on twelve occasions and observations made of the estate area, physical refurbishment, demolition and new building, and the residents use of the shopping precinct, community centre, neighbourhood office and open spaces.
The documentation was compiled and analysed in the context of the urban regeneration activities. A profile of Milton Court estate and its people was constructed to illuminate the different conditions and experiences of Black and ethnic minorities in relation to their neighbours and mainstream society. A second profile was derived from a review and analysis of the renewal plan, the Milton Court Estate Action Programme 1992-2002. Furthermore, as appropriate, insights were drawn from current municipal and private sector reports and programmes and from interviews with officials, professionals and community representatives. The list and contents of the data profiles and resource persons and contacts are given in the Methodological Notes in the Appendix.
Finally, assessments were made of the direct and indirect benefits of the planned interventions for Black and ethnic minority residents, and the degree to which their priority concerns were reflected in, and delivered by, the plan. A conclusion was then made about the greater or lesser degree of association between area renewal planning and beneficial change in the light of the study proposition and themes.
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The Study Profiles In organising this study profiles were constructed highlight the basic characteristics of the estate and its population and the essential components of the estate action plan.
Milton Court estate and its people was described and assessed according to the following criteria.
Data Profile: Estate and People
Place and Environment: Area location; Estate lay-out and design; Maintenance costs; Facilities and Social Amenities; Transport; Local Economy
People: Population density; Ethnic background; Households; Tenancy turnover; Property letting difficulties; Housing; Education; Employment rates; Income and Poverty levels; Crime and safety; Health.
Social Organisation: Active social, benevolent, political and faith organisations, coping strategies and enterprise and creative energies.
Popular Images and Problems: viewed by authorities, communities, and the media
Participation: What role played by the community in regeneration activities.
Key Issues: What are major outstanding regeneration issues from the local view point?
The Milton Court Estate Action Bid. Its purpose was to highlight the constituent parts of the plan was outlined and assessed according to the following criteria.
Data Profile: Estate and Area Renewal Plans
Mission Statements: what over-riding goals and objectives in a policy context
Problem Identification: what problems identified, when and by what means
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Main Objectives: what choices made to improve estate image and physical fabric, reduce density, selective demolition and relocation, new build and designs to create new housing mix, reduce crime and improve security, improve living conditions, improve training and employment prospects, community refurbishment
Programme Leadership and Organisation: who are the project clients, staff, partners, implementing agencies, and collaborating institutions
Performance Indicators: what techniques used to determine social and economic benefits and costs, and consumer satisfaction?
Resource Inputs and Expected Outcomes: what sources of funding, costs and expenditures in terms of project components and results
Evaluation Procedures: by whom, internal and external and how utilised in iterative process
Targeted Benefits and Beneficiaries: What specific aims for housing, employment, small business, education and training, health for residents, age, gender, Black and ethnic minorities
Local Consultation and Participation: estate advisory groups, tenant management and community forums, frequency and influence
Capacity Building: are issues affecting access, restructuring renewal, and enhancing community involvement and professional “good practices” identified.
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Literature Review To ensure that the study approach benefited from other work and was grounded in the literature, a review of current academic, consultancy and government agency research was undertaken, with a particular focus on research procedures and techniques of design, data collection, impact assessment and demonstration of results.
Profiles
Profiling places and people is standard procedure in many studies. For example profiles of “poverty” or “deprivation” are often based on indicators of income levels, housing, employment and health. Information for wards and census tracts are often used to describe areas of greatest deprivation according to such indices as predominance of flatted council estates, higher unemployment than other wards, more one parent families and more vulnerable social groups such as elderly, sick and Black people, with many living in overcrowded conditions and without use of a car.
Area Regeneration Studies
Noticeably, the identification of “policy imperatives” is one characteristic of regeneration studies. The policy imperatives of the Deptford City Challenge Evaluation Project (DCCEP), for example, was to produce a “comprehensive, independent evaluation of the Deptford City Challenge Ltd. Programme of urban regeneration across the whole period of its life” (DCCEP Baseline Study Report April 1993:3). This was to be achieved through a detailed picture of the City Challenge area. First of all as it was before the initiation of DCC activities, using existing sources. Secondly, by measuring quantitative, and to some extent qualitative, impacts and outcomes based on inputs financially supported by City Challenge.
In this manner the researchers sought to measure the achievement of the programme’s strategic objectives set out in the Action Plan, for example change in resident employment rates. The DCCEP work offers a rich seam of basic data and information, and its baseline
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report and profiling technique has been modified for use in this study.
Case Study Evaluation of the Project Experience
In an early government-sponsored Priority Estates Project evaluation study, Anne Power sought “to outline the experience of 20 different management projects based on estates that were difficult to let”. Power made use of a “case study” technique which described the kinds of estates and characteristics according to such indicators as repairs, vandalism and crime, poverty, race, unemployment, slum image, rent arrears, hard to let properties, structural problems, and poor location (Department of the Environment (DOE 1984:3ff).
The evaluation process used in Power’s study, in contrast to many of the sophisticated approaches mentioned in other studies, relied heavily on personal observation. Power says “In a necessarily subjective fashion we assessed each project in the areas we felt critical for measuring a turnaround in conditions. We based our assessment on what we saw during our visits and on hard information for such things as empty properties”. Project staff were an added source of information, but these were not checked against any indices of meeting tenants’ needs and aspirations. Yet, what was useful to the present study was the author’s recognition that “minorities tend to be concentrated in less popular council accommodation” (Power 1984:11)
Cost-Effectiveness Studies
The DOE Priority Estates Project 1993 aimed “to assess how cost- effective estate-based housing management was on five local authority priority housing estates, as compared to more traditional, more centralised management on other comparable estates” (Department of the Environment(DOE 1993). Answering policy questions about the impacts of improvement projects in these estates meant, say the consultants that they had to establish a
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clear context for stating their conclusions. In their case they used two cost-effective models based on expenditures and changes in performance and tenants’ satisfaction, and these were examined in a number of housing estates in different parts of the country, including ethnically mixed areas such as St Paul’s Bristol and Haringey, Tottenham, north London.
What emerged in their study is the conclusion that there is no standard yardstick for cost-effective housing management. This is because “History and a multiplicity of local conditions conspire to produce endless small variations in tenant demography and expectation, stock characteristics and condition, management strategies and practices, and financial regimes”. This seemed a necessary caveat to keep in mind in the present study.
Impact Studies
Victor Hausner, an economic and social research consultancy, sought “to investigate the impact of the UP (Urban Programme) on the provision of economic opportunities for members of ethnic minority communities” (DOE 1993:5). His methodological approach was based on two samples of projects: those of special benefit and those not specifically targeted.
Surveys and semi-structured questionnaires were used to examine such factors as inputs and outputs; management and organisational characteristics; perceptions of additionality and displacement; costs; impediments, and operational difficulties, and funding from the UP and other public and private sources.
This enabled Hausner to perform two crucial procedures. In one, he explored the performance of local authorities in relation to special benefit projects. In another, he identified issues affecting access, equal opportunities and professional good practices. Hausner’s consideration of special benefit projects was of great help in shaping my own emphasis on direct and indirect benefits of plan proposals.
Implementation Review Studies for Grant making Institutions
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Literature reviews are a necessary point of departure in many studies. Taylor and Stewart 1995 review current literature and professional experience to look at the implementation of estate regeneration strategies in housing tenure and management, employment, enterprise and income, and environmental regeneration.
In the case of Parkinson, a consultant to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the aim was “a review of knowledge, policy, and practice under the theme of strategic approaches to area regeneration”. To accomplish this he used a set of components which included: vision and strategy, priorities, targeting, resources, integrating partners and policies, spatial targeting, timing, monitoring and evaluation. This approach was very useful in formulating my own area plan data profile.
International Comparisons of Demonstration Effects
The growing recognition of the common problems involving vulnerable and disenfranchised urban populations has led to an increasing emphasis on sharing information, insights and European co-operation. The RECITE project, launched in partnership with the European Community, covered 25 different European cities and their Urban Pilot Projects. The consultants’ policy imperatives were to identify the demonstration effects and emerging lessons, the use of partnerships and novel organisational approaches, the impacts on localities, and the possibilities for exchanges of experiences (RECITE 1993).
Evaluation was focused on innovation and achievement in economic development and environment projects, and in the revitalisation of historic centres. Notably, their output criteria emphasised such factors as:
Improving access to training;
Involving local enterprises;
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Innovation in historic restoration;
Improving access to planning systems;
Exploring the economic potential of tourism, and.
Some useful points included the use of techniques of project profiles and project descriptions.
Urban Policy Evaluation
Hambleton and Thomas present a useful and cogent case for incorporating a variety of views and sectional interests in a “pluralistic evaluation” approach (Hambleton and Thomas 1995:12). Differing views within government ministries and implementing agencies as well other key actors in renewal must be taken into account.
The authors point out that “meanings of success” differ considerably between those who, for example, are only concerned with balancing the books, or with the through-put of trainees, or with the beneficial impact of projects on targeted populations. Identifying the varying perspectives on “success” has been a useful point to take into account in the present study.
Furthermore, they said both quantitative and qualitative methods of research and evaluation can be affected by institutional and political realities. The data sought or collected within a particular policy or theoretical framework may not be in a form which can be easily used by an independent evaluator. In the case of secondary research such as the present study this is a constraint which it was not possible to completely overcome.
Assessing Government Urban Policy
In a major study, Professor Robson and his team were faced with the policy imperative “to evaluate the overall impact of central government urban policy in England over the period of the last decade” (Department of the Environment DOE 1994: vii). Focusing
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on Action for Cities and Urban Priority Area programmes in more than one hundred local authority districts he analysed the relationships between inputs and outcomes, using regression analysis, and convergence-divergence theories. Qualitative information derived from “experts” also formed part of his study. His proposition was a null hypothesis that there would be no statistically significant difference in outcome indicators; and that the greater urban policy expenditures in local authorities has no effect on the socio-economic indicators. Robson’s work provides an interesting combination of quantitative and qualitative materials, but was not enhanced as the present study is by the popular perspective of local communities of Black and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Conclusion
The lessons for this present study seem clear based on this literature review. Area regeneration studies are characterised by standard procedures such as a review of the literature, the use of census data, the use of modelling, and social and cost-effectiveness criteria. But there are also studies which merely rely on impressionistic observations to measure improvements in conditions on housing estates. For example, Power’s study made site observations and statistics “In a necessarily subjective fashion” based on counting empty flats that had been filled, crimes rates that had been reduced, problem families excluded, households decanted and resettled, and repairs that had been made (Power 1984:32).
What did stand out was the apparent uniqueness of each evaluative situation and the research instruments applied, depending on the case and the research policy imperatives. It is also clear that “far from being the routine, technical task envisaged by the rational policy-making model, policy evaluation raises a raft of issues of varying kinds” (Hambleton and Thomas 1995:16).
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Given this literature review there are grounds for believing the approach used in this study is appropriate to the task. The study instruments contain a number of standard procedures and tests of validity, and the study can be replicated by other investigators.
Broadly, this study points to three interlinked elements for reliability by future researchers. One is a socially- and spatially specific focus on Black and ethnic minorities in social housing areas. Another, is an examination of design and management plans for estate renewal. And third, based on the evidence, advocating a changed renewal process and partnerships of urban policy makers, professionals, and local communities.
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Interviews and resources The High rise, Hard living research study benefited from discussions held on urban development, refurbishment and economic regeneration; on community refurbishment scheme; on Local Authority and Government Housing, Planning and design; on Local Education, Health and Community Action, History and Documentation; on Milton Court residents and organisations; and on the Deptford City Challenge and Community Impacts.
Abbreviations Used
CRE Commission for Racial Equality
CUCR Centre for Urban and Community Studies
DCC Deptford City Challenge
DCCEP Deptford City Challenge Evaluation Project
DoE Department of the Environment
EU European Community
ESRC Economic and Research Council
GLC Greater London Council
GoL Government Office for London
LBL London Borough of Lewisham
LEED Leisure, E
LRC London Research Centre
SRB Single Regeneration Budget
UDC Urban Development Corporation
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Glossary - Clarifying Use of Key Words
In approaching the tasks of renewal and development policy makers, professionals and communities need to reach agreement on some fundamental definitions of key words. Those found of relevance to this study are as follows.
In this study the term "Black and ethnic minorities" is derived from its use by the major central government urban regeneration agency and taken to include people of "African, Afro-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Cypriot, Pakistani, Indian SE Asian (mainly Vietnamese), and Turkish descent; whether born in Britain or not. EC nationals are excluded from this definition" (Department of the Environment, Urban Programme User Guide 1992/93:56)
"Area-based" refers to well-defined, physical and spatial areas whether as neighbourhoods, housing estates and living environment for residents and users, or part of the wider urban area and city. This is the link between social and urban planning and urban design.
"Projects" concern the physical and social qualities of the areas, as resources. Projects are seen as instruments for achieving specified objectives, for example (a) alleviating poverty and unemployment, (b) improving delivery of public services to deprived, vulnerable groups and neighbourhoods, (c) making social change activities more politically acceptable, and (d) promoting decentralisation, community participation, openness in government, and greater efficiency in management.
"High or significant Black and ethnic minority concentration" specifies the area in terms of population composition, and may vary from locality to locality. It is used only to identify the key target populations for the projects, and relies heavily on definitions used in
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official statistics and documents, though it is recognised that the term is not universally applicable or accepted.
A number of other useful definitions of terms can be drawn from Council of Europe documents (citations to be detailed later).
"Minority" can be construed as "any group of persons resident within a sovereign state ...whose members share common characteristics of an ethnic, religious or linguistic nature that distinguish them from the rest of the population" (Council of Europe, Thornberry and Estebanez, 1994, p.13).
"Ethnic relations" can be taken to mean "all relations between such groups, including racism and xenophobia, and especially their manifestations in the form of violence and harassment of minorities" (Council of Europe, 1994, p.13).
By "community relations" is meant "the totality of relations between the indigenous population and the various migrant or ethnic groups of immigrant origin" (Council of Europe, 1995, p.12)
"Integration" emphasises improving immigrants' chances in the labour market, access to housing and social welfare provision, equality of esteem and personal security, recognition of cultural rights, and participation in the decision making process, in an atmosphere of tolerance, equality of opportunity and partnership with immigrant organisations. (Council of Europe CDMG (94) 17 E, pp.12-13).
"Exclusion" and its corollary "inclusion" are of course two important key words to be addressed in policy making for area-based projects. These have been admirably defined by Lord Dahrendorf in his report on Wealth Creation and Social Cohesion in the United Kingdom. "To
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us the critical phenomenon is exclusion, and the crucial task, therefore, inclusion", he says. To elaborate this point he goes on to say:
"Exclusion takes many forms. The lack of prospects for many young people, notably young men, is one. Long-term unemployment is another. The emerging underclass of totally disconnected people is excluded. Xenophobia and discrimination are instruments of exclusion. Thus an inclusive society in which everyone has a stake needs more than economic policies. But it needs an economic policy which has inclusion as one of its goals" (Dahrendorf, 1995).
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Research Bibliography
Section One: Academic and Professional Books and Journals
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Anim-Adoo, Joan (1995), Longest Journey: A History of Black Lewisham. London: Deptford Forum Publishing.
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Back, Les (1996), New Ethnicities and Urban Culture: Racisms and Multiculture in Young Lives. London: University College London Press.
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Fainstein, Susan S., Ian Gordon and Michael Harloe eds. (1992), Divided Cities: New York and London in the Contemporary World. Oxford: Blackwell.
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Hambleton, Robin and Thomas, Huw (1995), Urban Policy Evaluation: Challenge and Change. London: Paul Chapman Publishing,
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London live again, for all our sakes”, The Independent, Monday 6 March 1995, p.18. “Building Cities to move the spirit”, The Independent, Monday 13 March 1995, p.18. Also see the book.
Sassen, S. (1991), The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press
Scarman, The Lord (1981), The Brixton Disorders, 10-12 April 1981. Report of an inquiry by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Scarman. London: Penguin
Schon, Donald (1987), Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Sennett, R. (1990), The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities. New York Alfred A. Knopf.
Sibley, David (1995), Geographies of Exclusion. Routledge, London and New York.
Short, John R. (1984), The Urban Arena: Capital, State and Community in Contemporary Britain.
Shyllon, F.O. (1992), “The Black Presence and Experience in Britain: An Analytical Overview”, in Gundara, Jagdish S. and Ian Duffield, eds. (1992), Essays on the History of Blacks in Britain
Shyllon, Folarin (1977), Black People in Britain 1555-1833. Published for the Institute of Race Relations by Oxford University Press. London, New York and Ibadan.
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Smith, Nigel (1995), Urban Regeneration: Themes for the Future, Housing and Planning Review, Vol. 50, No. 4, August and September 1995:19-20
Smith, S.J. (1989), The Politics of Race and Residence Oxford: Polity Press
Solomos, John and Les Back (1995), Race, Politics and Social Change, Routledge, London and New York.
Stanfield II, John H. ed. (1993), A History of Race Relations Research. Sage Publications, California.
Steele, Jess (1993), Turning the Tide: The History of Everyday Deptford From the Romans to the Present. London: Deptford Forum Publishing.
Stewart, Murray and Taylor, Marilyn (1995), Empowerment and Estate Regeneration: A Critical Review. The Policy Press, University of Bristol.
Thomas-Hope, Elizabeth, (1980), “Hopes and Reality in the West Indian Migration to Britain”, Oral History 8 (1)
Thornley, A (1991), Urban Planning Under Thatcherism: The Challenge of the Market. London: Routledge.
Walvin, James (1971 ), The Black Presence: A Documentary History of the Negro in England. Orbach and Chambers. London
Black London eMonograph Series
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Watson, Sophie and Katherine Gibson eds. (1995), Postmodern Cities and Spaces. Oxford: Blackwellpp.
Winchester, H.P.M and P.E.White (1988), The Localisation of Marginalised groups in the Inner City, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 6, pp.37-54.
Wrench, J. and John Solomos eds. (1993), Racism and Migration in Western Europe. Oxford: Berg
Young, Michael and Willmott (1957), Family and Kinship in East London. London: Penguin.
Zukin, S. (1988), The Postmodern Debate Over Urban Form, Theory, Culture and Society, 5, pp. 431-446.
Section Two: Documents, Study Reports, Pamphlets and “Grey” Literature
AMA- Association of Metropolitan Authorities (1985), Housing and Race: Policy and Practice in Local Authorities. London: Association of Metropolitan Authorities
Blair, Thomas L. (1996), “Europe’s new Melting Pot Cities – Policy Changes for Urban Renewal”, in American Planning Association, Proceedings, International Symposium on Immigration and World Cities. February 9-10, 1996, New York City,
Blair, Thomas L. and Hulsbergen, Edward D., Urban Development Consultancy (1995), Report on Practical Guidelines and Recommendations for Designing Innovative Approaches to Urban
Black London eMonograph Series
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Rehabilitation in Districts of High Immigrant Concentration. For the Council of Europe, Director of Social and Economic Affairs, Division of Population and Migrations, Strasbourg, France.
CPAG (1992), Kaushika Amin with Carey Oppenheimer, Poverty in Black and White: Deprivation and Ethnic Minorities. With The Runnymede Trust. London, Section 4. Housing and Health
CRE, Commission for Racial Equality (1995) Fact Sheets, No.4, #10 Housing.
Council of Europe, Patrick Thornberry and Maria A. M. Estebanez (1994). The Council of Europe and Minorities. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Council of Europe (1994). Police Training Concerning Migrants and Ethnic Relations. Practical Guidelines. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Press.
Council of Europe (1995). Tackling Racism and Xenophobia. Practical Action at the Local Level. Community Relations. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Press.
Council of Europe MG-CR (90) 23. Meeting of Experts on the Impact of Housing and Town Planning Policies on Community Relations. Immigrant Housing: Comparative European Approach. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Council of Europe CDMG (94) 17 E. Activities of the Council of Europe in the Migration Field. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Black London eMonograph Series
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DCC-Deptford City Challenge (1993), Annual Report. Vision into Action, 1992-93. Lewisham.
DCC-Deptford City Challenge (1994), Annual Review 1994. Lewisham.
DCC-Deptford City Challenge Annual Review 1995/6. Lewisham.
DCC-Deptford City Challenge (1997), Final Report. From Vision to Reality. Lewisham.
DCC- Deptford Health Challenge (1995). Health and Housing Project (1995). Report and
Recommendations March 1995. London: Health First and Deptford City Challenge.
DCC-Deptford Health Challenge (1996), Health and Housing Project. Phase II Final Report (June 1995-June 1996) by Alfred banya (Project Worker). Health First.
DCCEP-Deptford City Challenge Evaluation Project Reports
Baseline Study Report, January 1993
Baseline Study Report. April 1993
Year One Process Report. Summary. September 1993
Year One Process Report. September 1993
Annual Evaluation Report 1993-94. October 1994
Baseline Update Report 1994. October 1994
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Year Two Process Report. October 1994
Work, Education and Economic Activity October 1994
Community Empowerment. October 1994
Housing, Tenure and Tenant Participation. October 1994
Census of the DCC Area: Derived from the 1991 Census. October 1994 Annual Evaluation Report 1994-95 October 1995
Baseline Update Report 1995. October 1995
Baseline Update Report 1995: Statistical Appendices
Year Three Process Report. October 1995
Work, Education and Economic Activity II
Community Empowerment II
Housing, Tenure and Tenant Participation II
Housing, Tenure and Tenant Participation. Draft Report. September 1995 Annual Evaluation Report 1995-96. Draft Report. October 1996 Deptford Health Challenge Evaluation Report by Ed Randall, Department of Social Policy and Politics and Centre for Urban and Community Research. 1997
Department of the Environment (1977) Inner Area Studies. Liverpool, Birmingham and Lambeth. Summaries of Consultants’ Final Reports. London. HMSO
Department of the Environment (1994), Assessing the Impact of Urban Policy. Brian Robson et al, Centre for Urban Policy Studies, University of Manchester, Michael Parkinson et al, European Institute for Urban Affairs, John Moores University, Liverpool, and Fred Robinson, Social Policy, University of Durham. London: HMSO.
Black London eMonograph Series
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Department of the Environment (1996), Good Practice in Systems for City Challenge Partnerships: a Handbook. Pieda plc
Department of the Environment (1996), Housing and Urban Research Newsletter 1996/97.
Department of the Environment, Challenge Fund (1996), Partners in Regeneration. Bidding Guidance: A Guide to Bidding for Resources from the Government’s Single Regeneration Budget. The Challenge Fund. London
DOE- Department of the Environment (1996), Good Practice in Systems for City Challenge Partnerships: A Handbook. Pieda plc.. London Department of the Environment
Department of the Environment, The Urban Programme (1991), User Guide 1992-93. London.
DOE-Department of the Environment (1984), Local Housing Management: A Priority Estates Project Survey. Anne Power, consultant
DOE -Department of the Environment, Anne Power, Consultant (1982), Priority Estates Project 1982: Improving Problem Council Estates: A Summary of Aims and Progress. London: Department of the Environment
DOE- Department of the Environment (1993a) Priority Estates Project Cost-Effectiveness Study: Summary of Findings. Capita Management Consultancy. HMSO
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DOE-Department of the Environment (1993b), Inner Cities Research Programme. Economic Revitalisation of Inner Cities: The Urban Programme and Ethnic Minorities. Victor Hausner & Associates. HMSO. 1993
ESRC-Economic and Social Research Council (1995) Thematic Priorities. Swindon: Economic and Social Research Council
GFA Consultancy (1996), Into the Mainstream: Action Research. Final Report.
GOL- Government Office for London, November 1996, correspondence
Greater London Council (1986), A History of the Black Presence in London, Greater London Council, London
Hyatt, Jenny (1995), Calling in the Specialist: Using Consultancy Methods with Community Organisations. Community Development Foundation.
Hyde, Shirley et al (1989), A Social Atlas of Poverty in Lewisham. London: Centre for Inner City Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London and the London Borough of Lewisham
Jones, Emrys, “London”, paper for the Barcelona Conference on Giant Cities, February 25 to March 2, 1985.
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JRF-Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Area Regeneration Programme and Themes (1996):
Michael Parkinson, European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University. June 1996, Strategic Approaches for Area Regeneration: A review and a research agenda for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Area Regeneration Programme.
Michael Carley, School of Planning and Housing, Heriot Watt University and Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Edinburgh. June 1996. Sustainable Development, Integration and Area Regeneration. Prepared for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Area Regeneration Programme.
Daniel Dorling, Department of Geography, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS. June 1996. Theme 2. Patterns: Identifying Disadvantaged Areas: Health, Wealth and happiness (to improve the social and economic quality of life for people in the deprived and excluded areas). Prepared for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Area Regeneration Programme.
Keith, M. (1991), Knowing Your Place: The Imagined geographies of racial subordination, in C. Philo (ed,), New Words, New Worlds: Reconceptualising Social and Cultural Geography. Proceedings of a Conference organised by the Social and Cultural Geography Study Group of the IBG, Department of Geography, St David’s University College, Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales.
Kirwan, Richard and MacFarlane, Lindsay (1996), Strategies for Housing and Social Integration in Cities. OECD, London: HMSO.
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Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority (1997), Aspects of Health 1996/97. Annual Report of the Director of Public Health. London.
Lewis, Rob (1996), “The Demography and Geography of London’s Ethnic Minorities”, in American Planning Association, Proceedings, International Symposium on Immigration and World Cities. February 9-10, 1996, New York City,
Lewis, Rob (1996), “The Demography and Geography of London’s Ethnic Minorities”, in American Planning Association, Proceedings, International Symposium on Immigration and World Cities. February 9-10, 1996, New York City,
LOCAL STUDIES: of Deptford and Lewisham
Turning the Tide: The history of every day Deptford. Jess Steele. October 1993, Deptford Forum Publishing Ltd. 110a New Cross Road, London SE14 5BA;
Lewisham History and Guide, by John Coulter. Alan Sutton Publishers, 83 Washington Street, Dover, NH 03820;
History of the Borough of Lewisham, by Leland L. Duncan. 1908. compiled in 1963 typescript;
History of the Borough of Lewisham, by Leland L. Duncan. 1908 by LB Lewisham Council reprint 1963.
Black London eMonograph Series
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LBL-London Borough of Lewisham (1996), Lewisham Health Profile 1996. Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority and London Borough of Lewisham April 1996
London Borough of Lewisham (1990), Milton Court Report. Prepared by the Safe Neighbourhoods Unit for the Safer Cities Project and Deptford Task Force
London Borough of Lewisham (1992), Deptford City Challenge Action Plan, 6 Jan.
LBL-London Borough of Lewisham (1991), Milton Court Estate. 1991 Census Area Profiles, London Borough of Lewisham. OPCS Crown Copyright
LBL-London Borough of Lewisham (1992), Milton Court Estate, Woodpecker Neighbourhood. Estate Action Bid. Development Opportunities Appraisal. Report prepared for the Director of Housing, London Borough of Lewisham by BPTW. Architects and Quantity Surveyors. June.
LBL-London Borough of Lewisham (1997), Milton Court Estate Action 1992-2002. mimeo 4pp.
London Borough of Lewisham Housing, Community Refurbishment Scheme. Training Local People for Employment in the Construction Industry, 1996
Black London eMonograph Series
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London Borough of Lewisham Housing, Pepys Estate Action Newsletter, circa 1992
London Borough of Lewisham Housing, The Milton Court Estate. Partnership Brief. August 1993. Third Draft. Hillier Parker and Dearle and Henderson Chartered Quantity Surveyors.
London Borough of Lewisham Housing. Milton Court Estate Action NEWS, produced by BPTW Architects and Quantity Surveyors on behalf of Woodpecker Neighbourhood Council, London Borough of Lewishamnd.
LBL Housing, Woodpecker News, March 1997
LBL Housing, Milton Court Estate Action News. Issue No.8, March 1997
London Borough of Lewisham, 1991 Census Borough Profiles, by three wards
London Borough of Lewisham, 1991 Census Borough Profiles, LB Lewisham
London Borough of Lewisham, 1991 Census Ward Profiles, for Evelyn, Marlowe and Pepys
London Borough of Lewisham, A Social Atlas of Poverty in Lewisham by Shirley Hyde et al, Centre for Inner City Studies, Goldsmiths College, prepared for LB Lewisham Jan 1989
Black London eMonograph Series
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London Borough of Lewisham, Crossfield Estate Action. One photocopied page. Palmer Architects, 68 Montagu Road, London E8 2HW,
London Borough of Lewisham, Forest Hill Regeneration Strategy, Making Lewisham a Better Place to Be. Draft October 1996.
London Borough of Lewisham, Get To Know Your Council. Outlook. June 1996
London Borough of Lewisham, LEED Urban Regeneration Group Draft. Annual Economic Development Plan 1995/96
London Borough of Lewisham, LEED Urban Regeneration Group, Annual Economic Development Plan 1996-1997. February 1996
London Borough of Lewisham, LEED Urban Regeneration Group, Annual Economic Development Plan 1996-97. LEED, Urban Regeneration Group. Feb 1996, by Brian Regan.
London Borough of Lewisham, LEED Urban Regeneration Group, May 1996. Working Together: A Members' Briefing on LEED Services
London Borough of Lewisham, LEED Urban Regeneration Group. Lewisham, Bringing the Inner City Back to Life. 1996.
London Borough of Lewisham LEED, Economic Statistical Digest 1995/96
Black London eMonograph Series
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London Borough of Lewisham, Lewisham Education Draft Strategic Plan 1995-2000.
London Borough of Lewisham, Lewisham Health Profile. April 1996. LB Lewisham by Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority.
London Borough of Lewisham, Lewisham Profile: facts and figures about the population, June 1995, prepared by London Research Centre (LRC), Eileen Howes,
London Borough of Lewisham, Lewisham Education. Education Statistics Bulletin 1994-95. MIME Management Information Monitoring and Evaluation LB Lewisham. Library no> 370.942163
LBL-London Borough of Lewisham, Education (1996), Introducing…Deptford Green School, and insert “The Headmaster’s Statement, Deptford Green School, Headteacher: K.O. Ajegbo, M.A. (Cantab).
London Borough of Lewisham, Metro Police Divisional Report 1987, Catford 'PD'
London Borough of Lewisham, Neighbourhood Map, with Wards, all offices and central telephone number, Lewisham Housing. Communications Unit 1996
London Borough of Lewisham, Official Guide.
London Borough of Lewisham, Official Map
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London Borough of Lewisham, Town Planning Services. Background Paper, Number 2, March 1992. Borough Population Statistics, by Town Planning Services SAC, Directorate of Environmental Services, Town Hall Chambers, Rushey Green.
London Borough of Lewisham, Transport Policies and Programme 1996/97
London Borough of Lewisham, Unitary Development Plan. Consultation Draft 1991.
London Borough of Lewisham, Ward Profiles 1991 Census (includes Borough totals and individual ward totals for selected indices: Summary of total residents; establishments; age groups of residents in households; ethnic origin; economic activity; long term illnesses; tenure of households; dwelling types; household types; number of rooms; cars; household amenities; 1 year migrants). Source: OPCS. See CJ, LBL
London Borough of Lewisham, Estate Profiles, 1991 Census. Includes totals for: Summary of total residents; establishments; age groups of residents in households; ethnic origin; economic activity; long term illnesses; tenure of households; dwelling types; household types; number of rooms; cars; household amenities; 1 year migrants). Source: 1991 Census Area Profiles, London Borough of Lewisham. OPCS. See CJ, LBL
London Borough of Lewisham, Data Maps for Selected factors: Unemployment, Children in Low Earning Households, overcrowded households; households sharing/ lacking basic amenities; households with no car; children in unsuitable accommodation; larger council estates See CJ, LBL
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London Borough of Lewisham, “Portraits of Families/Groups/Clusters. Inner London. Inner London. Central London. Cosmopolitan Outer Boroughs. Inner City Boroughs. Newham and Tower Hamlets. Contains information on: people 65 and over; Asians; Blacks; Long term illness; lone parents; lone carers; singles; dinkies; social class 1 and 2; social class 4 and 5; unemployment; agriculture; manufacturing; finance and services; public transport; without cars; 2 or more cars; local authority; owner occupiers; large dwellings. Source: The ONS Classification of Local and Health Authorities of Great Britain, by Merryl Wallace and Chris Denham. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No.59, Office of National Statistics. London HMSO 1996. See CJ, LBL
London Borough of Lewisham, Maps from Ordnance Survey. Milton Court estate; Milton Court, Evelyn and Pepys estates. Source: Ordnance Survey. See CJ, LBL
London Planning Advisory Committee (1996), Good Practice Guide to Community Planning and Development. London.
London Research Centre (1997), Creating Diversity: Ethnic Minorities and European Cities conference, 5-6 June 1997, The Cumberland Hotel, London
London Research Centre (1997), Cosmopolitan London: Past, Present and Future. June 1997
London Research Centre (1997), Urban Divisions and Urban Solutions: Tacfkling Poverty and Exclusion in Urban Areas. Conference Report 26 February 1997. London.
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London Research Centre (1994), London’s Ethnic Minorities: One City, Many Communities. An analysis of 1991 Census Results. Marion Storkey. Demographic and Statistical Studies.
London Research Centre (1996), The Capital Divided: Mapping Poverty and Social Exclusion in London. Edited by Phillip Edwards and John Flatley. November.
Merriman, Nick, ed.(1993), The Peopling of London: Fifteen thousand Years of Settlement from Overseas. London: The Museum of London
Modood, T. et al (1994), Changing Ethnic Identities. London: Policy Studies Institute
NFHA- National Federation of Housing Associations (1993), Funding Special Needs Housing: A Guide to Housing Associations and their Partner Agencies to the New Capital and Revenue Funding Framework , by Shaun Bennet. London: NFHA.
Office of National Statistics, The ONS Classification of Local and Health Authorities of Great Britain, by Merryl Wallace and Chris Denham. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No.59, Office of National Statistics. London HMSO 1996. See CJ LBL
RECITE Office, Directorate General for Regional Policy of the Commission of the European Communities (1993). Urban Pilot Projects: An Interim Report on the Progress of Urban Pilot Projects Funded by the European Development Fund, December
SIA (1994), Mike Medas, From City Challenge to the Single Regeneration Budget: A Black Perspective, espeically Ch.3 “Policy Effects of City Challenge: The Single Regeneration Budget”.
Black London eMonograph Series
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Solomos, John (1989), Race Relations Research and Social Policy: A Review of Some Recent Debates and Controversies. Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (CRER), Policy Paper in Ethnic Relations, No. 18, Nov.
Solomos, John and Singh, Gurharpal (1990), Housing, Racial Equality and Local Politics. Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (CRER). Policy Paper in Ethnic Relations, No. 19, August.
United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe (1996), Strategies to Implement Human Settlement Policies on Urban Renewal and Housing Modernisation. HMSO:London
United Nations Habitat (1995), The Habitat Agenda, draft resulting from the Second Intersessional Meeting of the Informal Drafting Group of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), 13 October 1995 unedited draft
Zipfel, Tricia (1995), On target: Extending Partnership to Tackle Problems on Estates - A Review of Practice. London: Priority Estates Project.
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Black London eMonograph series
Introduction
The Black London eMonograph series charts my passion for exploring London’s Black urban life. Whether written in an academic mode or blogging for equality and justice, they cover the long journey of settled African and Caribbean people in urban Britain. Thus, they add insight to major issues of immigrant assimilation and mobility in an increasingly multi-cultural urban society. My approach is to reveal the spaces between dogma, certitude and debate about the Black Experience. To accomplish this I have applied my own methodology, namely the social problems-intervention- solutions approach. My preference is to challenge conventional wisdom. The question is “How better to use past research to understand the present and plan for positive futures for a beleaguered people?” Thus, readers can test my reasoning, identify and analyse the eMonograph elements — the arguments, methodology and sources. From this perspective, I see Black peoples in a different way. Not as freed slaves, bonded darkies, golliwogs, ex-colonials, replacement labour, welfare cheats or lesser breeds outside the law. I respect them as hard working, god-fearing aspirers with their own heritages, urban experiences and intellectual expressions. Using these “search engines”, readers will discover my concern with organising social forces, seeking out motives, sharing ideas and ideals. The opening emonograph, The Shaping of Black London, is well suited to my thesis. It introduces a timeline of Black London’s origins, problems and prospects. Further titles will range from the first Caribbean and African settlers in the 18th century to today’s denizens of the metropolis.
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Uniquely, the Black London eMonograph series builds upon my decades of research on race, city planning and policy issues in the public realm. This base of academic and professional opinion averts the danger of careless thinking unmediated by reference to reality and the facts. Together they are my gift to progressive educators, researchers, rights activists, and the communities they (should) serve.
Notes Thomas L Blair, PhD, FRSA, a sociologist, writes on the creative renewal of Black people in urban society. The current Black London monographs were written while gaining an MA and Urban Studies Fellowship at Goldsmiths College, University of London, in the 1990s. He has held professorships at UK and American universities, is well-known as a cyber-scholar, publisher of the Editions Blair series and the Black London eMonograph Series, and edits the pioneering Black Experience web sites http://www.chronicleworld.org and http://chronicleworld.wordpress.com
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
List of Editions Blair publications
The Black London eMonograph Series: Current titles are available at http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services- activity/community- development/pub_index.aspx?PublisherID=149777&PublisherName =Editions+Blair
The city as a “race” problem at the Turn of Two Centuries This study examines Black city life in 1890s Du Boisian Philadelphia and Postmodernist London through the works of American, European and British social scientists. The emphasis on specific locales demonstrates the relationships between social and sociological “race” problems’.
High rise, Hard living – on being Black in London’s Tower Blocks This empirical study argues for planning innovative renewal in post- war social housing areas of Black and Ethnic minority concentration in inner London.
The “native quarter” and city renewal London’s Black and ethnic minority communities were more likely to be impacted negatively by late 20th century urban renewal programs than other city dwellers, according to this study
All o' we is one Using Trinidadian writer Samuel Selvon’s novel, The Lonely Londoners, as a basic resource, this study uncovers the lived experiences of West Indian emigrants in London in the 1950s in housing, employment and social relations.
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Before London: coping with freedom and its discontents This essay seeks to raise awareness of the coping strategies the freed Black peoples used to build new lives in Caribbean cities following emancipation in 1883/84.
A travelling people: Caribbean migration on the verge of departure to Great Britain This study reveals that colonial Afro-Caribbean people, with their yearning for freedom and opportunity, were a traveling community of cultures for centuries before establishing major outposts in Britain in the 20th century.
The Impact agenda Prof Thom Blair reflects on use of Internet and social media by Black communities and scholars to disseminate ideas, and calls for this material to be captured and preserved as part of Britain's cultural heritage.
The Black London eBook Series: Current titles are available at http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services- activity/community- development/pub_index.aspx?PublisherID=149777&PublisherName =Editions+Blair Black Britannia: roots in 18th century London Black Britannia delivers research on the first generation of Blacks who shook up the capital in the 18th century. The shaping of Black London to the 21st century This timeline chart encourages awareness of a crucial fact: Black Africans and Caribbean people have lived in Britain’s capital for centuries. The audacity of cyberspace: the struggle for Internet power A book about Black communities' use of the Internet to overcome information poverty and communicate their own views Pillars of change The young Black French rebels exposed in the 2005 riots the unfulfilled promise of post-war Black cultural elites to strengthen the African presence in modernising society. Fair media: British Blacks challenge the nation's newsrooms UK newsrooms stand accused of betraying multicultural Britain.
Black London eMonograph Series
High Rise, Hard Living – On being Black in London’s Tower Blacks
Decolonising knowledge: expand the Black experience in Britain's heritage This book challenges information policy makers, researchers and archivists to recover, preserve and improve access to materials on the Black peoples in Britain and the African Diaspora.
Black London eMonograph Series