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Living in the Bubble: Gentrification and its 'Others' in North London

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  • Tim Butler

    (Department of Geography, King's College, University of London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK, tim.butler@kcl.ac. uk.)

Abstract

The article examines aspects of middle-class life by a group of 75 gentrifiers in Islington in north London. The study demonstrates that in their day-to-day lives almost all the respondents lived quite apart from non-middle-class residents in Islington. This was demonstrated by their educational strategies which involved finding schooling for their children out of the borough in both the private and state sectors. Their children had almost no contact with children from other social backgrounds. It is suggested that, despite a strong rhetoric in favour of social integration, the current gentrifiers of Islington, unlike the pioneers of the 1960s and 1970s, are unwilling to invest social capital in the area and that their relationships are almost entirely with 'people like us'. It is suggested that this is likely to lead to an increasingly polarised social structure in which the middle classes and their children inhabit entirely separate social spaces from other, and more disadvantaged, groups. The long-term consequences of this are uncertain but are unlikely to lead to greater social cohesion.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Butler, 2003. "Living in the Bubble: Gentrification and its 'Others' in North London," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(12), pages 2469-2486, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:40:y:2003:i:12:p:2469-2486
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098032000136165
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Garry Robson & Tim Butler, 2001. "Coming to Terms with London: Middle‐class Communities in a Global City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 70-86, March.
    2. Tim Butler, 2002. "Thinking Global but Acting Local: The Middle Classes in the City," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 7(3), pages 50-68, August.
    3. Chris Hamnett, 1994. "Social Polarisation in Global Cities: Theory and Evidence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(3), pages 401-424, April.
    4. Chris Hamnett, 1996. "Social Polarisation, Economic Restructuring and Welfare State Regimes," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(8), pages 1407-1430, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandra Huning & Nina Schuster, 2015. "‘Social Mixing' or ‘Gentrification'? Contradictory Perspectives on Urban Change in the Berlin District of Neukölln," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 738-755, July.
    2. Olaf Ernst & Brian Doucet, 2014. "A Window on the (Changing) Neighbourhood: The Role of Pubs in the Contested Spaces of Gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 189-205, April.
    3. Michael Parzer & Florian J. Huber, 2015. "Migrant Businesses And The Symbolic Transformation Of Urban Neighborhoods: Towards a Research Agenda," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1270-1278, November.
    4. Marie-Hélène Bacqué & Eric Charmes & Stéphanie Vermeersch, 2014. "The Middle Class ‘at Home among the Poor’ — How Social Mix is Lived in Parisian Suburbs: Between Local Attachment and Metropolitan Practices," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1211-1233, July.
    5. repec:bla:ijurrs:v:38:y:2014:i:4:p:1142-1159 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Graham P. Martin, 2005. "Narratives Great and Small: Neighbourhood Change, Place and Identity in Notting Hill," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 67-88, March.
    7. Brian Doucet, 2014. "A Process of Change and a Changing Process: Introduction to the Special Issue on Contemporary Gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 125-139, April.
    8. Paul Watt, 2008. "The Only Class in Town? Gentrification and the Middle‐Class Colonization of the City and the Urban Imagination," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 206-211, March.
    9. Gary Bridge, 2014. "Afterword: The Times and Spaces of Gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 231-236, April.
    10. Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak, 2017. "Degraded and upgraded? Economic activity in a diversifying inner-city subarea," Argomenti, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics, vol. 7(7), pages 1-18, May-Augus.
    11. Melissa Butcher & Luke Dickens, 2016. "Spatial Dislocation and Affective Displacement: Youth Perspectives on Gentrification in London," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 800-816, July.

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