Rising in the East? The Regeneration of East London

Abstract

Every modern global city needs its urban hinterland. Brooklyn is New York's back region, while London has an ever-expanding End. This area, whose traditional working class essence is represented each week in East Enders, now attracts huge volumes of public and private investment, in what has become the largest urban development zone in the United Kingdom. The financial sector and communications industries have moved east from the City into the Isle of Dogs, and government has defined the East Thames Gateway as a major site for regional urban regeneration. The End of the imagination doesn't always correspond to the reality. It now takes in a large part of Essex - on some definitions, stretching as far as Southend. Its population is now one of the most ethnically diverse in Britain. It is also becoming significantly more middle class, by criteria of occupation, education and property-ownership. This book explores the meaning of these changes.