Social/Affordable Housing in London     Dr Paul Watt will examine social and affordable housing in London in four parts. The first part will provide an overview of what is meant by ‘social rental housing’ and ‘affordable housing’ in the London context. The second part will offer a brief history of the development of social housing in London, beginning with philanthropic housing in the 19th century, but mainly focussing on 20th century council housing as provided by local authorities. This will then lead onto the third part which examines the causes and consequences of the long-run decline in social housing since the 1980s; the latter is a major factor which shapes London’s present-day housing crisis. 

The final part of the talk will focus on how many of London’s council-built housing estates are subject to regeneration schemes which involve their demolition and replacement with mixed-tenure housing developments including new private homes. This aspect of the talk will draw on original research undertaken at several London council estates which examines the aims and effects of such regeneration schemes with an emphasis on understanding the views of estate residents.

Dr. Paul Watt is Reader in Urban Studies at the Department of Geography, Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on urban regeneration, social rental housing, the London housing crisis, gentrification, suburbanization, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Paul is co-author of Understanding Social Inequality (Sage, 2007), co-editor of Mobilities and Neighbourhood Belonging in Cities and Suburbs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), co-editor of London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and co-editor of Social Housing and Urban Renewal: A Cross-National Perspective (Emerald, 2017). Paul is on the Editorial Board of City, and is Board Member of the Research Committee on Sociology of Urban and Regional Development (RC21), International Sociological Association.

Run in association with the Built Environment Trust.