2.1.4 Economic Change and Social Inequalities in Deindustrialised Urban Places Flashcards
Where is the Lee Valley?
- East London
- Follows the River Lee
- Adjacent to the London Docklands
Why did the Lee Valley deindustrialise?
- Largest manufacturing centre in Europe until the 1980 dock closures
- It was no longer a good place for import and export
- Factories moved away
What is the cycle of urban decline following deindustrialisation?
- Industries and business reduce workforce and relocate
- People are unemployed so have less money to spent and move away for new jobs
- Derelict waste land and residential properties become abandoned
- Local shops and services get less income so have to close
- Some turn to crime to supplement income
- People become depressed so have lower aspirations and wage demands
- Environmental and building quality decline as less money into area
- Low investor confidence in the area
How did the employment data change in the Lee Valley?
- Decreased between 1981 and 2001
- Largest number of people (65,000) employed in 1981
- Lowest in 2001 with 23,000 employed
- Decreased by 42,000 (66%)
- 2/3 of jobs were lost
What is the Lee Valley spiral of decline?
- As soon as individuals improve their status, they tend to move away
- Only to be replaced by unemployed migrants
- The area is therefore in a constant spiral of decline with stagnant growth
- Few businesses are attracted due to poor human resource
- 70% of unemployed people had a poor attitude to work, 66% poor numeracy and 65% poor literacy in a 2008 MORI report
- Total crime is 40% higher than the London average
Where is the London Olympic site?
- East of London
- North of the River Thames
- Surrounded by Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest (some of the poorest boroughs in London)
What is urban decline?
The deterioration of the inner city often caused by a lack of investment and maintenance (often accompanied by a decline in population and decreasing economic performance and unemployment)
What is a brownfield site?
Land that has previously been built on
What is sports-led regeneration?
Using a major sporting event/stadium as a catalyst to speed up rebranding/regeneration
Why did Stratford need economic regeneration?
Social:
- Highest proportion of one parent families
- 1 in 4 houses are overcrowded
- Least amount of qualifications in London as 50% leave school with no GCSEs
- Life expectancy is 7 years shorter in Stratford than in Westminster (reduces by a year for every stop on the Jubilee line)
Economic:
- Between 1950 and 1975, 40,000 jobs moved to lower wage economies
- When Docks closed, 100,000 jobs in manufacturing went in East London
- Tower Hamlets has the highest unemployment but an average salary of >£100,000 (inequality)
- Newham/Stratford is the second poorest borough in London with an average salary of £20,000
Environmental:
- Land around Stratford is contaminated with heavy metals, toxins and oil
- Brownfield, derelict sites
- Canals and rivers used as a dumping ground
What was the organisation which led the regeneration?
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)
What was done to boost/regenerate Stratford?
- 500 acre Olympic Park with stadium, aquatic centre, velodrome, Olympic Village and Eurostar station
- 35% of Olympic Village became social housing
- Government reduced the size of the park to decrease numbers of people having to relocate
- Media centre built to then become Here East (1 million sq feet) which is a high tech, well connected building
- 50,000 new jobs in the park after the games
- Construction college built
- Green Way in Lee Valley Regional Park, which is parkland from Stratford to Hertfordshire
What were the issues caused by the regeneration surrounding the Olympics?
- 250 businesses demolished and had to relocate, which was difficult due to increasing property prices (e.g. Forman and Son salmon smokers)
- Demolished housing estate in Clays Lane, which was a low cost, social housing estate that was home to 450 residents
- Residents were provided £8,500 in compensation but housing costs in new East London were double their previous rent
