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In collaboration with David McEwen (unit 38) and West Green Road/Seven Sisters Development Trust
Regeneration is radically transforming London’s physical and social fabrics. In Tottenham, North London, development proposals will see a very diverse community displaced to make way for luxury residential towers: Seven Sisters Market – one of London’s most celebrated migrant hubs located at the ‘gateway’ to Tottenham – has become the battleground for competing visions for the city. The summerLab wants to explore a community-led transformation, alternative to an otherwise exclusionary trajectory of urban regeneration.
Seven Sisters Indoor Market is home to over 60 businesses from 21 nationalities, employing over 150 traders. While an emphatically international space, the market is particularly celebrated for the role it plays for London’s Latin American community. Businesses form the stage for social life, offer a vital support network and an opportunity for cultural expression. As the United Nations have recognised: “the market provides a dynamic cultural space, inclusive of people from a diversity of places and from different generations, that is a great example of London’s cultural diversity.” It is a unique space within the city.
How, in a context threatened with eviction because of regeneration plans, can resistance evolve into an alternative? How can such alternative inspire a wider, community-focused and community-led, strategy for a street, for a neighbourhood, for the whole of Tottenham?
Working alongside local traders, residents, campaigners, and the plan’s current designers, the summerLab attempted to answer these challenges. Participants worked at multiple scales and examined the various dimensions of urban transformation.
The workshop began with a series of urban explorations, moving from the Market to the wider neighbourhood and other significant regeneration projects in London. Participants met with activists and scholars who provided critical perspectives on the current dynamics of urban transformation. Fieldwork activities were conducted to gather empirical evidence supporting the formulation of a Community Plan for Seven Sisters, developed in collaboration with local community architects and members.
The plan was presented in the presence of local stakeholders, fostering a collective discussion on the necessity and appropriateness of promoting a community-driven process of transformation.