The returned

Abstract

Amid a globalised crisis in secure housing provision, this article zooms in on the specific experiences of older working-class people coping with public housing demolition and forced neighbourhood transition in London. London's new-build mixed tenure housing developments provide varying proportions of social rental housing, some of it made available to tenants of the council estate it replaced. This article examines the experiences of older people who have taken up the 'opportunity' of 'return' and explores the multi-faceted work they are forced to undertake as they move into unfamiliar and capricious social, physical and political landscapes superimposed on the collapsed infrastructure of their old estate. The article brings themes of 'un-homing', ageing in place and everyday 'repair' work into encounter and calls for greater qualitative understanding of the 'return' experience as a dimension of forced relocation by housing restructuring and tenurial mixing projects.

LIFE AFTER RESETTLEMENT IN URBAN CHINA: State‐led Community Building as a Reterritorialization Strategy

“…These organizations and events are all aimed at increasing interaction between residents and RCs. The loss of neighbourly relations through (re)development is often regarded as a key sign of displacement and considered irreversible social damage (Atkinson, 2015; Liu et al ., 2017; Wallace, 2020; Watt, 2021). Yet state‐led community building has revealed that neighbourly interactions play a key role in rebuilding communities, while RCs regard such interactions as building residents’ sense of belonging and stimulating community participation.…”

“…State‐led resettlements, which are particularly prevalent in the fast‐developing global South, are interpreted as a form of displacement that distinguishes itself owing to the speed and the large scale at which it is executed, but otherwise share the same features as other forms of displacement such as gentrification (Elliott‐Cooper et al ., 2020; Hamnett, 2020). Displacement studies have been integral to understanding the consequences of urban (re)development, but there is growing evidence that signals the need for alternative analytical pursuits that move beyond the singular moment of physical uprooting, to focus on the post‐displacement struggles of residents (Wallace, 2020; Wang, 2020; Watt, 2021). Large‐scale rehousing programmes in very different sociopolitical contexts, including the United States (Popkin et al ., 2009), the Netherlands (Kleinhans and Kearns, 2013), South Africa (Meth and Buthelezi, 2017; Meth et al ., 2019), India (Patel, 2016) and China (Wilmsen, 2016; Jiang et al ., 2018; Zhang et al ., 2018), present both the problems and benefits of state‐led relocation schemes that cannot be encapsulated in the framework of displacement.…”

Can residents regain their community relations after resettlement? Insights from Shanghai

“…Compared to other contexts where the state is relatively absent in rebuilding the sense of community of resettled residents (Leitner et al, 2022;Meth et al, 2022;Watt, 2022), the Chinese state has invested significant efforts in community rebuilding to ensure social stability and political legitimacy (Wang, 2022). Similar to other contexts (Leitner et al, 2022;Wallace, 2020;Watt, 2022), resettled residents in Shanghai struggle to connect with their new neighbours through their own efforts alone. Living in high-rise buildings offer little chances for residents to naturally encounter and familiarise with each other.…”

“…Although the framework of displacement has been critical in understanding the negative impacts of resettlement, a growing number of studies argue that the struggles of residents continue well beyond the singular moment of physical uprooting (Leitner et al, 2022;Lombard et al, 2021;Meth et al, 2022;Wallace, 2020;Wang, 2020Wang, , 2022Watt, 2022).…”

“…However, research on the post-resettlement life of residents and especially whether residents are able to rebuild their community relations are relatively scarce and inconclusive, with often contrasting views about whether and how resettlement has affected the community life of residents (Goetz, 2013;Kleinhans & Kearns, 2013;Wallace, 2020;Watt, 2022).…”