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| about Inura | Inura07 London visits | Inura07 programme | Travel, housing, London stuff |
London was one of the cradles of capitalism and - as the base of British government and a host of consultants and financial institutions - has played a leading role in the intensified renewal of the capitalist project in Europe and the world since the 1980s. Just now it is reflecting on the legacy of slavery and on the campaigns here to end the Atlantic slave trade 200 years ago - a trade which contributed massively to wealth accumulation in Britain and thus to some extent underpins whatever prosperity we all have now. Dealing with that legacy may help in dealing with racism today. The idea of emancipation from oppression is thus in people's thoughts.
The 17th Inura meeting will focus less on the big global processes and more on the experience of citizens in a city-region experiencing rapid economic growth distributed very unequally. The economy is partly driven by the continuing inflation of asset values, including the values of housing and urban space. Citizens are all subject to the resulting pressures and many of our visits and discussions in London will be to groups and localities fighting for survival and for decent conditions in the face of intensifying gentrification and continuing low salaries for working class people or welfare benefits which trap people in poverty or near-poverty. A common theme is the transfer of social housing to (or towards) private ownership, either individual or corporate. Tenants are manipulated into these schemes because government money for housing improvement is conditional on their consent.
A secondary or background theme - likely to be prominent at the retreat in Brighton - will be the contradictory story of London government which combines radical and emancipatory measures for transport, global warming and some other topics with an uncritical endorsement of real-estate investment disguised as 'regeneration' and 'sustainability'.
latest update 30 June 07.
The meeting has now taklen place. This web site thus becomes an archive / record / resource. Presentations, documents, links etc arising during the meeting are to be found at the PROGRAMME and VISITS headings above.
Some other links...
Foundation of 'Planners Network UK'. This year, following initiatives from Rachel Bland - well known to Inura people - plus others, a UK planners network has been formed. It has forthcoming meetings on 17 July and in September and if you are going to be here and are interested you would be very welcome. [ Details here. ]
www.spectacle.co.uk
www.stockwellstudios.org.uk