Gentriflcation and Displacement in Greater London: An empirical and theoretical analysis Rowland Graham Atkinson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 1997 Abstract The thesis involves an inquiry into the little explored nature of the relationship between the processes of gentrification and displacement in the context of the Greater London area. Scant work has been previously undertaken in this country on these processes compared to the wealth of work conducted already on gentrification. Displacement has barely been acknowledged as a component of the British gentrification experience except through anecdotal evidence and acknowledgement of basic causal association. Three separate but related methodologies were used to piece together evidence to test whether gentrification was a displacing force. First, the 1981 and 1991 censuses were used to examine broad social changes in London at a ward level, second, the Longitudinal Study (LS) was used to examine the linkages between identifiably gentrified areas and the migratory trajectories of gentrifiers and displacees. Finally the use of grounded research was undertaken to look at examples of these processes in situ through interviews with tenant's representatives and local authority officers. The cumulative weight stemming from the use of the three research methods and the view that displacement is a necessary corollary to gentrification is evaluated along with the implications of findings on the need for the retention of affordable housing and the potential costs of urban social restructuring. The evidence suggests a need for a wider set of social and economic costs to be considered in view of the damage that may be done by gentrification. Accurate quantification in the future will not result without the identification and monitoring of gentrification and displacement activity by local authorities via the monitoring of the housing histories of the vulnerable. The work concludes that the study of gentrification and displacement is theoretically and empirically problematic but that the results of the work also form a positive introduction and lever into wider work on such processes in the future and that such research should be continued in the future. Acknowledgements In the course of research the following individuals and organisations were instrumental through their assistance or via enabling access to invaluable data; Roger Blayney, in helping to extract initial census data Office for National Statistics, for support and training in the use of the 1981 and 1991 censuses Simon Gleave and staff at the Social Statistics Research Unit, City University for the extraction of the LS data Richard Sheppard (Director of Housing), Robert Erskine (Senior Planner), Roger Appleton (Policy), Andy Waring, Sheila Moor, Paul Copeland (Environmental Health) of the London Borough of Wandsworth lan Hussein and Toby Graves, tenancy relations officers at the Housing Advice Centre, London Borough of Wandsworth Gordon Brierley, Rent Officer for Wandsworth Heather Jones of the Hammersmith Private Tenants Rights Project Karen Bone of the Kensington Private Tenants Rights Project Sue Waller of the Camden Federation for Priavte Tenants The Brent Private Tenants Rights Project Sarah Kingston at the Colville Project, Netting Hill David Chambers for advice and guidance through difficult times and, finally, but perhaps most importantly Suzanne Wheelaghan for moral support and for making sure I got there in the end Gentrification and Displacement in Greater London: An introduction Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................»~..~.^^ CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION.................................^^^ Part One - Literature Review...................................................................................................................... 9 Part Two - Theory and Method................................................................................................................... 9 Part Three - The empirical work.............................................................................................................. 10 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................-^^ CHAPTER TWO - A REVIEW OF THE GENTRIFICATION AND DISPLACEMENT LITERATURE................................................................................................-^ INTRODUCTION.............................................. 1. GENTRIFICATION.........................................................................................................................................^ The gentrification research agenda..........................................................................................................20 The history of gentrification .....................................................................................................................22 Gentrification, the gentry and income...................................................................................................... 24 The Theorisation of Gentrification........................................................................................................... 27 'Gaps' in our knowledge of gentrification................................................................................................ 29 Closing the gaps .......................................................................................................................................31 Progress in gentrification research..........................................................................................................33 2. DISPLACEMENT..........................................................................................................................................33 Defining Displacement .............................................................................................................................34 Displacement in the past........................................................................................................................... 37 Displacement in London...........................................................................................................................39 A displacement research agenda.............................................................................................................. 44 The descent into post-modernity............................................................................................................... 47 CONCLUSION... ...............................................................................................................................................49 CHAPTER THREE - THEORY AND METHOD IN GENTRIFICATION AND DISPLACEMENT RESEARCH ................................................................................................................50 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 1. THEORY, GENTRIFICATION AND DISPLACEMENT ........................................................................................50 Gentrification theory ................................................................................................................................52 The definition of gentrification................................................................................................................. 60 2. THEORY AND DATA COLLECTION IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS ....................................................................63 The chronology of gentrification and displacement .................................................................................63 The Theory Dependency of Research .......................................................................................................65 Theory neutral research?.......................................................................................................................... 66 Levels of analysis in the study of gentrification........................................................................................67 A displacement typology........................................................................................................................... 73 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................................74 CHAPTER FOUR - EXAMINING GENTRIFICATION AND DISPLACEMENT USING THE CENSUS ....................................................................^ INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................76 1. THE EXTRACTION OF THE CENSUS DATA.....................................................................................................78 Practical considerations....................................................................................^^ 7# The SAS census data.................................................................................^,,^^ fff ^ f .................................. 79 10% counts and ED's............................................................................... ___ Dangers when analysing change through time with the census ...............................................................82 Previous work..........................................................................................................................................