camberwell_j

DJKillaQueen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I still think that regeneration is difficult > without a change in the social fabric of an area. > Most of the run-down parts of London that have > regenerated have done so because the middle > classes have moved in and displaced working class > residents, social tenants, and so on. With > unlimited public funds it's obviously possible to > make an area like north Peckham much better for a > while, but it won't keep improving unless its > economy picks up on its own - which means rich > people need to move in and make it trendy. > > Whilst I broadly agree with your point regarding > regeneration and economy I don't agree that it > requires the displacement of poor and working > class people by wealthier and middle-class people > to happen. What people need are jobs, and decently > paid ones. London is a unique case because of it's > diversity and being a capaital city. In other > towns and cities around the country there is no > monbile middle class in great enough numbers to > gentrify areas that formerly were served for > employment by the local factory or dock or mine. > And displacement isn't actually adding anything to > the economy at all....merely changing the economy > on a local level. The poor and unemployed are just > poor and unemployed somewhere else. > > And given that the main drive for the middle class > moving into those areas is property prices it > could be argued that there is no net gain to the > local economy either as yet another area becomes > unaffordable to most to live in, in time. So for > me...that is not the answer to anything. Far more > effort should be put into generating employment > and helping those to get out of poverty, some of > whom with the right help might want to set up > small businesses and work for themselves as well. > The setting up of a small business helps the local > economy far more than filling the pockets of an > individual who wants to make a fast profit on a > property price I think. But at the same time, a > small business needs customers to sell to, so the > best and most self sufficient kind of local > economy seems to me to be one where all kinds of > people can afford to live. Just to chip in on this point, where you seem to be missing something. You say, and I entirely agree with you, that local employment needs to go up. Yet, the way this will happen is by having the middle classes move into the area. If there is a market for new shops, bars, restaurants, as there would be with richer people moving in, then those are the small businesses that create jobs. Likewise, the 'trendy' people everyone fears, bring with them new industries. The creative industries, still create jobs. The new media industries in Shoreditch may be full of awful pretentious people, but they are still employers of businesses which are relatively unaffected by the existing economic crisis. These things happen in the area because of market need, not intervention, and so areas do need the middle classes in to naturally and organically regenerate.