Woodberry Down Estate

Above:  Recently I was in Hackney and got off the tube at Manor House to look round the Woodberry Down Estate.  Places like this are fascinating - this is where real people live.  You cannot really understand marketing if you do not make an effort to understand all the various communities in which people live (and increasingly, where people have come from, since a big proportion of C1s and Bs will describe themselves as "working class".



Above:  the estate was planned in the 1930s, but not constructed until after the Second World War, only being finished in 1962.  The architecture is supposed to have "Viennese" influences.  One of the first comprehensive schools in the country was located on this estate (it closed in 1981).

Above:  although planned along utopian ideals, the estate soon exhibited social problems.  Local politicians have called the estate a 'forgotten community' and criticised the way the buildings have been allowed to deteriorate, the anti-social issues (drugs, crime, vandalism) that have blighted the community, the failure of the local authorities to intervene.

Above:  The Happy Man pub is part of the Woodberry Grove parade of shops.  In the window there is an advertisement for a party to celebrate the Royal Wedding (which is tomorrow).  The scale of the Royal Wedding seems to have taken many people by surprise - a Newsnight discussion this evening has just called it a "geopolitical event" and said that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not been invited becuse of their responsibility for the Iraq War.

Above:  the Woodberry Down Boys' Club.  It looks like some kind of prison compound.  Note the murals on the facade - even in such depressed circumstances the community subscribes to utopian ideals.

Above:  the "Neighbourhood Sub-Office" has the feel of Fort Apache the Bronx with bars on the windows.

Above:  most of the Woodberry Down estate is currently being "regenerated" in what appears to be a final legacy of the New Labour project.  Reports talk of the population being "decanted" and many of the buildings are due to be demolished.  It is difficult to avoid the suspician that this is another example of social engineering.

Above:  a least a quarter of the new "units" will be for sale or private rent.  This will inevitably change the character of the community.  Presumably the presence of middle class private accommodation is expected to improve the area in some way.

Above:  this is just my opinion, but the new "regeneration" looks terrible.  I hope these are not going to become yuppie flats.  Architects have a lot to answer for.

Above:  the landscaping along the river has been done well.  The water in the distance is one of the two reservoirs.  At least some of the regenerated buildings will have a good view.

Above: the population of Hackney is ethnically very diverse, with only 40% being White British. What future do these people have? Whatever the mistakes made in the original construction of mega social housing estates, I think the gigantic scheme of "regeneration" planned here is not the right way to help these communities. They should have incremental (but significant) improvements to the everyday conditions of their lives, while leaving the overall social construction intact.