By Bryan Goh and Jeremy Wong
Written for the Cities and Social Change module, students are tasked to investigate a physical and social change in a street, neighbourhood or city of their choice.
In this article Bryan and Jeremy shed light on a London-wide phenomenon by visiting the streets of Dalston in the Borough of Hackney, focusing on the experiences of both long-time and new residents.
In a swanky new part of town, Dalston was bustling with crowds on a Monday afternoon. Yet, despite numerous people getting along with their day, it felt cold. It was a mere fourteen degrees and we were still in the heart of autumn. We were trying to explore how locals have responded to the newest development in the area - Dalston Square. Yet, almost nobody wanted to talk to us. We heard that Dalston has long been home to a vibrant, energetic community [1], so why is that the case?
Walking through the complex, it seems almost unimaginable that one is in the East End. Known for decades as a relatively deprived area, Dalston and other town centres in the Borough of Hackney has been undergoing extensive regeneration. The Hackney riots in 2011 brought its ethnic divides into light [2]. Are the processes of regeneration shedding light into the deprived Hackney’s future? Or is it foreshadowing new hidden problems?
Location of Hackney (Red) and Dalston (Blue)
The 2012 Olympics brought London into the limelight again. With the Olympics happening on its edge, Hackney’s image has been effectively uplifted. For the first time since 1991, Hackney has again attracted young talent, increasing Hackney’s population by more than 20% in 2011 [3].
Dalston Square stands directly above Dalston Junction station and has been determined by the Council to spearhead Dalston’s redevelopment. Historically, its major landmark - Dalston Town Centre, represents Hackney’s vibrant cultural and social mix. The neighbourhood also benefits from excellent public transport connectivity. Moreover, its high street - Kingsland High Street, is filled with large amounts of small, active, independent shops and services, catering for the area’s ethnically diverse population in terms of food and other specialist products.
These dynamic interactions between people of different ethnicities have long been valued in the area. In fact, the famous Ridley Road Market is one of the most vibrant in East London, with over 100 stalls, opening every day except Sunday. While highly interactive cultural exchange lights up the street throughout the day, Dalston is also supported by a lively evening economy filled with entertainment in multiple music venues. A gradual transformation, however, has emerged within the town.
Juxtaposition of old (Right: 11 Dalston Lane) and new buildings (Left: Dalston Square) [Photo by Bryan Goh]
Long a stronghold for gentrification resistance, increasing need for housing has posed a threat to Dalston. Taller, newer residential developments have sprung up in the past decade. This has contributed heavily into a new buy-to-let system, facilitating a nature where everything is monetised [4].
Dalston Square, in its three different phases, has produced 533 new flats for London’s increasingly stressed housing market [5]. However, only 28 of these flats are affordable. The Council claims that this huge margin was to pay for the £63 million slab built over Dalston Junction station to accommodate the increased space needed for Olympic buses, yet it was never used.
Consequently, Dalston Square has been constantly blamed for causing gentrification in the Dalston neighbourhood. Gentrification is the process where socio-economic changes occur when the regeneration is residential areas has been influenced by more affluent incomers, thereby displacing current or former residents who are not able to afford the increased costs of living [6].
Dalston Square has undergone extensive promotional campaigns in East Asian cities, like Singapore and Hong Kong. In fact, 30% of the flats are owned by foreign buyers [7].
Also, over 40% of Dalston Square’s flats are owned by ‘investors’. Despite providing rental opportunities in the area, these are expensive and priced at over £350 per week for a one-bedroom flat, escalating average rental fees in the housing market. Dalston for decades has been a relatively lower-income neighbourhood in inner London and this has resulted in segregation between different social classes.
James [8], a middle-aged shopkeeper in Kingsland Shopping Centre, has been selling snacks for eight years. He says, “Dalston has changed since I started working here, these new buildings have forced poorer people out of their old homes, and it affects my business. There is now a large gap in people’s incomes.” Car parking charges have soared by 300% ever since Dalston Square was completed. Despite this, James believes this is inevitable and just wishes for more integration.
Paul, a retired Hackney resident who regularly visits the Dalston C.L.R. James Library, the first library in Hackney for over 20 years, expresses the same concern. “Dalston is changing too fast, we once felt like family. I wish it were the old days again.” [9]
Unfortunately, this might be a challenge for Dalston as many flats in Dalston Square are on the rental market. The UK shorthold assured tenancy scheme only has a 3-year maximum duration. Many residents know that they will not live here for a long time, and consequently feel there is no need to interact with the wider local community. “Dalston is not my home. I only live here because it is easier to get to university than from where I grew up.” Maria [10], a second-year undergraduate student at the University of London confessed that she has never interacted with her Dalston neighbours. Unsurprisingly, she thinks that everyone just gets along ‘pretty well’.
This sense of community and social cohesion that James and Paul are wishing for might never occur. In fact, the problem might worsen.
When Dalston Square was first unveiled, homes started out at £210,000 for a 1-bedroom apartment to £470,000 for a 3-bedroom. Now, these homes are listed at over £500,000 to £730,000 respectively [11]. Real estate agents we spoke to say housing in Dalston will continue to be high, and demand in London as a whole is not being met by house-builders, causing prices to rise even further. Housing quality is also affected, with the Home Builders Federation declaring that 98% of customers reported problems with their new homes, reflecting a wider problem of housing in general in London and the UK. Many are now also calling for local Councillors and planners to impose guidelines that force developers to conserve neighbourhoods’ identity in some way [12].
Back in the 1980s, Dalston Square was home to the Four-Aces-Club. Housed in a Victorian theatre, it was one of the first music venues that celebrated international black music. However, despite protests, Barratt homes started building Dalston Square over it in the late 2000s, to lift itself out of debt after the financial crisis hit hard. The 30-year cultural legacy of the Dalston African-Caribbean community was grounded up and crushed to what was later used in the foundations for Dalston Square, further rubbing salt into the wound.
So how are the physical implications for this new trend in gentrification displayed in this once uniformly vibrant town? The socio-economic divide between its residents has gotten wider, making this disparity more visually explicit [13]. Previously, Dalston Square had a more balanced proportion of income class. That picture has now been repainted, featuring an influx of merely only affluent newcomers.
Arriving at the adjacent Kingsland High Street, however, one can immediately feel the striking contrast when approaching the Town Centre and the Ridley Road Market. There is an ethnically diverse crowd and a mixture of people dressed in various states. There are people dressed in formal luxury brands such as ‘Prada’ and ‘Gucci’, juxtaposed against more casually dressed pedestrians. What is captivating is how the latter dominates the former, as if there is a manifestation of income class division between the square and the streets.
Ridley Road Market, pre-covid [Photo by Bryan Goh]
“Well, what can we do? At least we poorer lads now have a higher chance of seeing each other out on the streets, just have to look on the bright side I guess.” moaned Jess [14], another lady in her-mid fifties, a former resident of Dalston, who lived at where Dalston Square sits now.
The interplay of contrasting patterns how residents of different income class interact with the area has certainly played a role in Dalston’s spatial transformation too.
While new residents adapt to their new lives in Dalston Square, eating and shopping around the Town Centre and the High Street, older residents are progressively being forced out of Dalston all together [15]. What is noteworthy though, is that it is also these residents who are observed to be hanging around and using these places.
This is unlike Ingrid [16], a middle-aged resident living in Dalston Square, who was pacing through the high street market with her headphones on. She admitted, “I am only here for seven months, I do not need to know these people. I just buy what I need and head home. I spend two-thirds of my time back home. In fact, I generally spend less than 30 minutes outside.”
With new spatial alignments, comes a new arrangement of amenities too, and Dalston is no exception. The introduction of shops and restaurants on the ground floor of the new flats is a perfect example. Now, residents have easy access to meals, albeit at a different class, with prices upward of ten pounds. This has greatly increased convenience for residents in Dalston. With more shops at its base, residents have less need to head out towards the high street, further facilitating the process of socio-spatial segregation.
Moreover, the new Holy Trinity Primary School was built just at the base of one of the towers. Completed in 2016, it was constructed to cater to the limited capacity of the existing five schools in the area for Dalston’s newest residents [17]. Also, the school is visibly for the middle-higher class, many conveniently living in the towers just above. Naturally, many of the kids play in the square after school, “My son just wants to run around the playground or rush upstairs to play video games once his day ends!” exclaims one parent [18].
Dalston Square has certainly brought a new atmosphere of both cultural and income spatial division to the Dalston Community. With this new renting system acting as its continual engine, the question that lies in the heart of most residents of Dalston will probably be: Are there any other alternative systems or solutions to restore the vibrant, affordable interactive character that Dalston has been known for?
More politically speaking, should residents gain greater voices in future community planning issues of the area? The answer is obvious.
Café Route on the ground floor of Dalston Square [Photo by Bryan Goh]
This piece was part of a project carried out in the winter of 2019. Undoubtedly, Covid-19 will have changed many things, for better or for worse. Nonetheless, this article aims to shed light on a London-wide phenomenon, one with dire consequences.
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References:
Stops, V. (2019). How Hackney became London’s most liveable borough. [online] Design Council. Available at: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/how-hackney-became-london-s-mostliveable-borough
Wessendorf S. (2014) Commonplace Diversity, Social Divisions and Inequality: Riots in Hackney. In: Commonplace Diversity: Social Relations in a Super-Diverse Context. Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan, London
Hackney.gov.uk. (2019). Community Strategy. [online] Available at: https://hackney.gov.uk/community-strategy.
Paccoud, A. (2017) ‘Buy-to-let gentrification: Extending social change through tenure shifts’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49(4), pp. 839–856. DOI: 10.1177/0308518X16679406.
Akt-uk.com. (2019). Dalston Square - AKT II. [online] Available at: https://www.akt-uk.com/projects/dalston%20square.
Pacione M. (2001) Urban geography: A global perspective, London and New York: Routledge.
Altheer, D. (2012). Who’s buying Barratt flats at Dalston Junction. [online] LOVING DALSTON. Available at: https://lovingdalston.co.uk/2012/07/who’s-buying-barratt-flats-at-Dalston-junction/
Interview: James*, mid-forties, shopkeeper selling snacks in Kingsland Shopping Centre.
Interview: Paul*, mid-eighties, Hackney senior who regular visits to library.
Interview: Maria*, late teens, university student who grew up in Enfield.
Lewis, J. (2019). 'Hackney, I lost you': the London creatives priced out of their studios. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/28/hackney-creatives-priced-outlondon-studios-artists-gentrification
Hackney Citizen. (2013). London Mayor to meet Dalston campaigners over ‘gated community’ fears. [online] Available at: https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2013/01/02/london-mayor-meeting-dalstoncampaigners-gated-community
Altheer, D. (2019). Gentrification advances as Pret a Manger lines up a big site in the heart of Dalston. [online] LOVING DALSTON. Available at: https://lovingdalston.co.uk/2019/05/gentrificationadvances-as-pret-a-manger-lines-up-a-big-site-in-the-heart-of-dalston
Interview: Jess*, mid-fifties, ex-resident of Dalston who moved out 6 years ago.
Ridout, G. (2019). Dalston locals protest plans to open Pret on Kingsland Road | Eastlondonlines. [online] Eastlondonlines. Available at: https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2019/10/dalston-locals-protestplans-to-open-pret-on-kingsland-road
Interview: Ingrid*, mid-forties, Dalston resident shopping at the market
Rock Townsend. (2019). Rock Townsend - Holy Trinity. [online] Available at: http://www.rocktownsend.co.uk/holy-trinity-primary-school-2-1
Interview: Parent, mid-thirties, mother of a child studying at Holy Trinity Primary School. She declined to share her name.
