Narratives Great and Small: Neighbourhood Change, Place and Identity in Notting Hill

The area of Notting Hill in west London has been subject to much media coverage in recent years, which, along with substantial gentrification, has given rise to an image of the area as the epitome of fashionable London. This study investigates the views of those marginal to gentrification and mediat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of urban and regional research Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 67 - 88
Main Author MARTIN, GRAHAM P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2005
Blackwell
Wiley Blackwell
SeriesInternational Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Subjects
Bgi / Prodig
Changes
Class Differences
Community Satisfaction
England
Europe
Gentrification
Globalization
Greater london
Identity
Landscape
London, England
Mass media images
Media coverage
Middle class
Narratives
Neighborhood Change
Neighborhoods
Neighbourhoods
Place
Regional studies
Regret
Respondents
Shops
Symbolism
The British Isles
United Kingdom
Urban development
Urban studies
Working class
England
London
United Kingdom
United Kingdom > UK
Notting Hill England
Urban change
Urban landscape
Gentrification
Perception of the urban environment
Urban district
Semiotics of space
Post-modernism
Urban area
Identity
Place
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0309-1317
1468-2427
1468-2427
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2427.2005.00570.x

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Summary:The area of Notting Hill in west London has been subject to much media coverage in recent years, which, along with substantial gentrification, has given rise to an image of the area as the epitome of fashionable London. This study investigates the views of those marginal to gentrification and mediated representation on their feelings about the local area, its image and their changing neighbourhoods. Many participants in the research resented some of the more recent changes in Notting Hill and the area's representation in the media. However, in contrast to expectations, most of the more working-class respondents involved in the research did not articulate much emotional attachment to the area. They were more concerned with what might be termed the material aspects of life in Notting Hill: convenience, facilities, safety and so on. In contrast, the more middle-class respondents frequently spoke of their regret of the changes to the area, such as the loss of independent shops, and the reduction in diversity. Paradoxically, the loss of working-class landscapes seems a relatively middle-class worry. The symbolically important landscapes described by working-class respondents were related to more immediate, material issues, in which gentrification was only a relatively minor concern. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
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This article arises from a dissertation completed as part of an MSc in Society and Space at Bristol University, for which I was funded by an Economic and Social Research Council studentship. I would like to thank Gary Bridge, who supervised the research and helped to formulate this article. I am grateful to Tony Lemon and Hilda Parker for reading earlier drafts and providing useful comments, and to Ruth Hancock, then director of the Nuffield Community Care Studies Unit, University of Leicester, for granting me time to write this article when I worked there. I would also like to thank two anonymous referees for their intelligent criticism, and particularly for drawing my attention to a wider literature and helping me to strengthen my analysis and presentation.
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ISSN:0309-1317
1468-2427
1468-2427
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2005.00570.x