Regeneration
London Olympic Park Watch
A website has begun publishing news and comment about the Olympic Park. It is called London Olympic Park Watch. It
"...aims to be an independent, balanced, open-minded, and constructively critical, observer of the next phase in the life of the Olympic Park."
Submitted by Martin Slavin on Sat, 24/11/2012 - 14:42.
Blog | Legacy | Regeneration | Social Housing | Sustainability
London Plays Games - Podcast
"Mega-events, such as the Olympic Games, have often been described as a preferred tool of place promotion and marketing and a primary connection between the local and the global. The Olympics are a global spectacle literally taking place in a single locale. Olympic Games are tightly interwoven into the urban economy and (re-)development schemes. They are also an increasingly important driver in the creation of new leisure and consumption spaces and the interests of international property firms. Like all mega-events, the Olympics are almost exclusively urban phenomena that require large public and private investments."
Submitted by Martin Slavin on Mon, 06/08/2012 - 09:46.
Opinion | Displacement | Economics | Human Rights | Planning & Development | Politics | Protest | Regeneration | Sport
Preparing London for the Corporate Games: the Docklands Planning Model
from Corporate Watch
Submitted by Steve Dowding on Wed, 01/08/2012 - 14:28.
Article | Displacement | Planning & Development | Regeneration | Thames Gateway
Local Heroes
By Leah Borromeo
The motto of the Games is "inspire a generation". However, not everyone is enthused. Londoners from the poorest parts of the city facing major upheavals from losing their homes, livelihoods and public spaces to the mercy of a few weeks of medal-chasing over the summer. They believe that the Olympics gave local councils and big business an excuse for a land grab - in which the community had little or no say. When they voice their opposition, they are hushed by the machinery of bureaucracy, the suppression of protest and the reality of losing the roofs over their heads. But their concerns are as real as the Games itself, which have received some £9.3bn in UK public funding. Community life will continue long after the athletes, the fans and the confetti have gone. I spent a week listening to and gathering the stories of Londoners shouting at the walls of an Olympic Jericho.
Photo: Leah Borromeo
Joe Alexander, 38, is in property maintenance. He lives on the Carpenters Road estate and is vice chair of the local campaign group Carpenters Against Regeneration Plans. I spent the day with Joe - a quiet, eloquent divorcee and father who moved to Stratford in London's East End in the hopes of starting a new life
Submitted by Carolyn Smith on Sat, 28/07/2012 - 15:51.
Article | Contamination | 2012 Legacy | Clays Lane | Compulsory Purchase | Displacement | Environment | Human Rights | Legacy | Protest | Regeneration
adiZones and Lo-Lifes
by @spitzenprodukte
GAMIFY INSURRECTION
Submitted by Steve Dowding on Sun, 22/07/2012 - 11:25.
Article | 2012 Legacy | 2012 Sport | Health | Mega Events | Olympics Studies | Regeneration | Sponsors
In search of legacies lost
The former Arena Field, site of the Media Centre, in 2008
Runners are sent ahead to drum up excitement; the circus rolls into town, and the people pay. Show over and profits taken, the circus pulls out, leaving behind mere memories and mess.
The five ring circus works on similar lines over a longer eight-year timescale. Why did London agree to host this circus? The time to reject a London Olympics was during the bid stage
Submitted by Steve Dowding on Wed, 18/07/2012 - 08:49.
Article | 2012 Arts & Culture | 2012 Finance | 2012 Jobs | 2012 Legacy | 2012 Sustainability | Displacement | Hackney | Legacy | Protest | Regeneration
Little to celebrate
BRITISH Waterways has ceased to exist in England and Wales and in its place Canal & River Trust (CART) has at last been created to care for the waterways.
Submitted by Martin Slavin on Wed, 04/07/2012 - 10:46.
Blog | 2012 Transport | Attractions | Corruption & Ethics | Cycling | Government | Local groups | Planning & Development | Public transport | Regeneration | Sustainability | Tourism | Transport
Forthcoming Social Cleansing in London
Anticipating the effect of the Coalition’s Local Housing Allowance reforms
The Government paid out £8bn in Housing Benefit in England in 2009/10, of which £1.5bn was spent in London. In an attempt to reduce this, a number of changes are being introduced to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which sets the maximum amount of rent that can be met from Housing Benefit. From 2011 LHA is being reduced from the median level of local rents to the 30th percentile and an absolute limit is being imposed on the allowance. From 2013, LHA will be increased in line with consumer price inflation (CPI) not with rents themselves. Cumulative CPI inflation between 1997/8 and 2007/8, for England, was 20%, compared with 70% for rents.
Submitted by Martin Slavin on Sun, 13/05/2012 - 10:54.
Blog | Displacement | Government | Housing | Regeneration | Social Housing | Sustainability
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