OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 [SB2] - Existing Gentrification Protest Organizations

In order to begin my research into real-world gentrification, I decided to look for parties that opposed gentrification in my local area in London. I feel this is important as it establishes the similarities between different ideologies, even if the end goal is the same and allows me to understand what the main idea is that I'll be designing for.

Class War

Website

"There is a class war waging and we are losing it. The rich are getting richer and the gilded elite who have ruled us since Norman times remain in power and dominate land ownership just as they did when they first robbed it.

We live in a feudal society dominated by an oligarchy of privately and Oxbridge educated toffs who run not just the government, banks, diplomacy but the media, music. comedy and even the opposition.

We see no difference between any of the parties – we oppose Sadiq Khan with the same venom we hate Zac Goldsmith.

We don’t want to kick the tories out to replace them with Labour or any variety of failed Trots. We don’t want to kick them out at all – we want to kick them in!

Started in 1982 CLASS WAR was first a combative, funny, populist anarchist newspaper then mutated into a similar political organisation."

This is the manifesto of Class War, a political party against the gentrification of London we see today. Class War is an extreme version of left wing supporters that reject all existing parties on premise of corruption and deceit. They promise to level the playing field for everyone and introduce a national basic income that everyone receives (similar to some Scandinavian countries.) I believe Class War has honest values, but their execution is too extreme for my views and I believe in a more balanced approach. However, it is interesting to see how far the current gentrification policies are pushing people.

Westway23

Westway23 is an action group based in North Kensington (very close to where I live) to simply give a voice to the local community. Westway23 works closely with the local council to make decisions that are win-win for both the council and the tenants alike. 

The Kensington Green Regeneration Project

One of the projects they worked on successfully was the Wornington Green regeneration project, that is currently undergoing until 2021. The council and community worked together on the project from start to finish and both parties reached an outcome that worked for them. I believe this is how gentrification should occur, in a way that benefits both parties without driving out current residents.

Save the Curzon

The Curzon Cinema is an iconic building in the heart of Soho that has been in operation for over 100 years. It typically shows more underground movies and has been a hub for Soho's culture since inception. This cinema is now under threat of closure from the recent developments of the High Speed Rail proposed by former mayor Boris Johnson. This is a prime example of a negative effect of gentrification, something I am very opposed to. The Curzon has amassed a petition of over 40,000 signatures in order to save it thus far, but it is still uncertain whether it will remain. The Curzon released a video on the petition that aggressively called all supporters to action by 'Cursing for Curzon'.

The Save Curzon campaign has since been covered by influential news outlets such as The Independent, The Guardian, BBC and more. I feel that a viral campaign such as the one Curzon created is the best way to voice an opinion, mixed with protests and a clear concept for an ad campaign. Researching into these different groups has definitely given me an insight into the aims of these groups and how they go about gaining exposure for their projects.