London Neighbourhoods: Architecture, Planning, People and Urban Change

In 1964, University College London (UCL) sociologist Ruth Glass used the term ’gentrification’ to describe the dynamics of neighbourhood change in London. The same tensions around investment, newcomers, “authentic” culture, affordability, displacement and sense of place endure in our efforts to understand, appreciate and equitably plan for place-based communities. London Neighbourhoods is in part a field course with weekly visits to sites across London where we will hone our skills of observation, learn how to break down the perception of disorder and read the city as a latticework of patterns, and meet local “guides” – citizens, proprietors, professionals, activists and public officials – who will introduce neighbourhood strengths and challenges as we build up a vocabulary of urban concepts and consider the arts and politics of representing places, from the documentary film to the city planning document. In the classroom, we will prepare for the weekly site visits, discuss readings that inspire and amplify our conceptual toolkits and provide case studies of neighbourhood research, planning and activism. At its most basic, the pedagogical goal is to cultivate environmental literacy: an awareness, curiosity and critical appreciation for our physical surroundings; and a sense of the politics and culture of urban change as it touches down in the places we live, work and recreate.