Should We Evict Critical Perspectives on the State-Led Gentrification of Council Estates in London? The Case of Woodberry Down

Abstract

Research on council estate regeneration in London has revealed predominantly negative outcomes, including direct and indirect displacements, the loss of homes and communities, and the slow-violence enacted on residents by lengthy programs. Drawing on recent EU-funded research on Woodberry Down (Hackney), we highlight similar negative effects, alongside some positive, ambiguous, and novel outcomes. We discuss these mixed findings within two emerging trends: a new turn to criticizing “antigentrification” work on estate regeneration; and a housing policy turn back to promoting council homes and the refurbishment of council estates. We conclude that it is premature to evict “antigentrification” perspectives in the longue durée of estate regeneration in London, even in the case of Woodberry Down, which has had some significant community won victories. We also reveal new complicating factors in this “gentrification story”—“Guppies” and precarious private renters who are not the wealthy, professional gentrifiers of earlier new-build gentrification literatures.