Gentrification masks ugly truths

One of the country’s leading urban geographers, Professor Loretta Lees, has outlined some of her key findings on gentrification in London.

In a blog on ESRC Urban Transformations research, Professor Lees outlines some of the key findings from her research – including data showing that more than 135,000 London council tenants have been displaced since 1997. 

Professor Lees, of the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, is Principal Investigator of the ESRC-funded project Gentrification, Displacement, and the Impacts of Council Estate Renewal in C21st London.

In it, Professor Lees presents evidence from interviews on the enormous impacts rehousing has on individuals and communities, evidence she presented and was cross examined on in a recent public inquiry.  She argues:

“The state-led gentrification of council estates (public housing projects in the US) must be stopped on both sides of the Atlantic. But rejecting this gentrification is only the first step: alternative strategies for maintaining council estates/public housing and building more properly affordable housing need to be developed too. That is work I have begun in other research projects, work that is critically important.”

Professor Lees was recently cited by the journal Urban Studies as being amongst the top 20 most cited authors within urban geography- and the most referenced woman within the field. The study also found that Professor Lees is the most productive woman in urban geography, the 24^th most productive author overall.

• The article is available here

You can find details about some of Professor Lees work in the articles below:

• Leicester has an opportunity ‘to do regeneration differently’
• Why tens of thousands are being forced out of London
• Aylesbury decision could set precedent for stopping gentrification of council estates, says expert
• 2014 TEDxBrixton talk: