Everyone is leaving London and these billboards explain why
- Text by Megan White
How would you feel if you were forced out of the city you’d made your home?
This is the case for thousands of young Londoners, priced out of London by landlords charging extortionate rents and high-rise blocks with ever-decreasing amounts of affordable housing.
How long can this go on? That’s a question posed by London is Changing, a project that aims to highlight the impact of economic and policy changes on the culture and diversity of London by creating huge billboards showing Londoners’ plights.
The idea of Dr Rebecca Ross, senior lecturer and MA Communication Design course leader at Central Saint Martins, the digital billboards, erected in Holborn and the City of London, display a rotation of messages taken from transient Londoners. The messages were collated from an online Q&A about why participants moved to London, why they’re leaving, or why they’re staying. Anyone who has moved in or out of London in the past or next 12 months is invited to take part.
Ross hopes the findings will “encourage discussion about the impact of economic and policy changes on the culture of diversity of London” and reveal more about migration in the city. Although the original billboards have come down, the project continues throughout this year, and Ross hopes to reveal the full set of responses in early 2016.
London isn’t the only city suffering a major housing crisis. Mountain View, CA, is also struggling. In the city where Google’s global HQ Googleplex is situated, residents of the city are facing increasing prices and less property, pricing out middle-wage workers. In 2013, 114,000 new jobs were created and yet fewer than 8,000 new housing units were built.
Even the city with the best housing policy in the US, New York, has similar issues. Over the last 20 years, the income needed to afford a typical New York City apartment has soared more than $10,000, whereas incomes themselves have only risen by around $1,000. The city is nine months into an ambitious plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years, but residents are still struggling to find homes.
You might like
Vintage photos of London street life at the turn of the millennium
London 1995-2005 — In her new photobook, Joan Piekny reflects on a decade shooting the styles and subcultures of the UK capital’s streets, just before technology .
Written by: Miss Rosen
An evening with the South London Warlords
The art of war — From Warhammer to Burrows and Badgers, the small Dulwich community has been fortifying defences and launching invasions since 1971. Ryan Loftus dives into the wonderful world of wargaming.
Written by: Ryan Loftus
Princess Julia: “I always state my age as I can’t believe I’m still around”
First lady — As the latest Artist-In-Residence of Huck 83, the London nightlife legend speaks to Josh Jones and provides a few recommendations and words of wisdom.
Written by: Josh Jones
An intimate window into New York’s ’70s lesbian scene
We Others — An exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery combines Donna Gottschalk’s unearthed photographs of LGBTQ+ activists and friends, along with Hélène Gianneccini’s written histories.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The Pope has declared holy war on AI
The New Butlerian Jihad — In his first encyclical letter, Pope Leo XIV addressed the increasing pervasiveness of artificial intelligence as a threat to the already fragile structures of society. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland makes sense of it all.
Written by: Emma Garland
A portrait of the UK’s oldest boxing club
Learning the Ropes — A new documentary by Ryan Pickard chronicles the hard-edged history of Repton Boxing Club in Bethnal Green, while asking poignant questions about the present and future of the sport in the UK.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
