Unequal City: London in the Global ArenaUnequal City examines some of the dramatic economic and social changes that have taken place in London over the last forty years. It describes how London's changing industrial structure, particularly the shift from an industrial to a services-based city, and the associated changes in occupational class structure and in the structure of earnings and incomes, have worked through to the housing market and the gentrification of large parts of inner London. This has had major consequences for both the social structure and the built environment of London. It asserts that this transformation in London's industrial structure, from a city with a large manufacturing base to one based primarily on business, financial, creative and other services, is linked to a major change in its occupational structure. But, unlike much of the literature, which argues that cities like London have become increasingly socially polarised, it argues that London has become more professionalised and has a shrinking manual workforce. The changes in the industrial and occupational structure of London have been linked to changes in its earnings and income structures.; The dominant feature of London has been an expansion of its high earning groups and a marked increase in both earnings and income inequality. The growth of this expanded new middle class has had major impacts on the nature of the London housing market, particularly in the growth of home ownership, rising prices and the expansion of middle class gentrification across much of inner London. This has been paralleled by the growing marginalisation of the less skilled, the unemployed and various minority groups in the council sector. These changes have reshaped the social structure and social geography of London. They have made it a more unequal city. Unequal City relates to the literature on global cities. The book has a wide sweep and summarises a wide range of literature on occupational and industrial change, earnings and incomes and the housing market and gentrification. It provides a wealth of original data, figures, maps and tables and will be a valuable reference for anyone interested in the changes that have reshaped the social structure of London in recent decades. |
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction | 1 |
Chapter 2 The economy of London | 18 |
Chapter 3 The transformation of Londons occupational structure and the rise of the new middle class | 43 |
Chapter 4 Widening inequality | 65 |
Chapter 5 Multiethnic London | 95 |
Chapter 6 The transformation of the housing market | 118 |
Chapter 7 Gentrification and the middleclass remaking of Inner London | 146 |
Chapter 8 Deprivation social exclusion and its consequences | 172 |
Chapter 9 Remaking the landscape | 194 |
| 229 | |
| 254 | |
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Common terms and phrases
areas argues Bangladeshi Bank bottom decile Britain buildings business services Canary Wharf Caribbean census cent changes City of London concentration council estates council housing council sector decile decline distribution Docklands dominated dramatic earners earnings and incomes East End economically inactive employment ethnic minority population Euronext Figure financial and business gentrification global cities Greater London Greater London Authority growing growth Hackney Hamnett home ownership house prices household income housing market importance increase inequality inner city Inner London Islington labour market large numbers LDDC levels London boroughs London Docklands major manual workers manufacturing industry middle class migrants million nineteenth century Outer London percentage points polarisation post-industrial private renting professional and managerial proletarianisation proportion quartile redevelopment residential result rise role Ruth Glass Sassen service sector skilled South East structure of London Table tenants tenure top decile Tower Hamlets transformation working-class world cities