CURB: The Slow Violence of Displacement on London’s Gentrification Frontier

The displacement of communities living in neighbourhoods on the gentrification frontier takes a variety of different forms,complicating the distinctions between voluntary and involuntary moves. While some of those displaced can benefit from improved housing and quality of life, for the most vulnerable – the elderly, ethnic minorities, the unemployed and those with long term physical and mental illness – the outcome of displacement is rarely benign. Moreover, the threat of displacement can, for many in this group and others beside, generate negative emotions and mental states: anxiety, confusion, fear, loss, dread, depression and so on. In this paper I draw on an ongoing study conducted on six council estates in London which have been earmarked for, or are undergoing, redevelopment where we have interviewed residents waiting to be rehoused or removed. Highlighting the psychological and physical consequences of living in this state of abeyance, I argue that the gradual desertification of the neighbourhood, the withdrawal of essential services and a breakdown of meaningful relationships between residents can ultimately wear down individuals and households, leading to an inertia that makes effective resistance to displacement slow, fractured and, at times, seemingly impossible. In making this argument, I stress the need for more studies off displacement that consider it as an ongoing process whose impact can stretch over many years rather than a one-off ‘event’ whose effects are felt even before the moment of ‘unhoming’.

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