Rethinking what prosperity means in east London

East London is the site of several large-scale, long-term regeneration initiatives that are intended to deliver meaningful improvements to the prosperity of local residents, communities and businesses.

One of these is London’s 2012 Olympic Legacy regeneration strategy, that UCL East is part of, and which aims to close the ‘prosperity gap’ between deprived east London neighbourhoods and other areas of the city, within 20 years of the Games.

Yet, evidence across four decades of regeneration in London shows that gains of projects such as these are not equitably shared among different ethnicities and neighbourhoods.

Strategic regeneration sites are often surrounded by low-income areas, where residents struggle to access high-quality jobs, and are disproportionately affected by rising living costs and lack of affordable housing.

A new long-term study, led by researchers from the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP), is exploring these inequalities in depth, by working closely with local residents to examine how regeneration affects people’s prosperity.

The study will track the prosperity of over 4,000 households in 15 areas of east London using the Institute’s Citizen Prosperity Index: a new way of measuring prosperity that reports on what matters to local communities.

The index was developed based on in-depth research conducted by local residents on what prosperity means in their own communities.

During wave one of the study, local residents from 10 neighbourhoods were recruited, employed and trained through IGP’s Citizen Science Academy to conduct qualitative research on prosperity in their neighbourhoods.

The teams carried out interviews and walking ethnographies, exploring obstacles to prosperity, and are now involved in presenting this research to policymakers.

Beyond offering employment through local community organisations and practice-led research training to local residents, the project is helping to widen the space for community members in east London to participate in knowledge production and decision-making.

Early findings from the study indicate that residents of black, Bangladeshi, Caribbean, and mixed ethnic origin have less disposable income, heavier debt burdens and less access to home ownership than residents of Indian, white, Pakistani and other ethnic origin.

The work also showed that older estates, where many people have lived for more than 10 years, have a greater proportion of residents experiencing energy insecurity, food insecurity and job precarity.

The findings will be used to change the way decision-makers think and act for prosperity by developing new forms of evidence and better ways of planning regeneration projects.

The Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 study is being run by  IGP’s Prosperity Co-Laboratory UK, an innovative initiative to develop transformational thinking and action on shared prosperity for the UK.

The study was co-designed with members of the London Prosperity Board – a cross-sector partnership between the IGP, UCL East, London government, local councils, public agencies, businesses, the third sector, and local communities in east London.

Further resources

• Read the full story in The Bartlett Review
• Prosperity Co-Lab (PROCOL) UK
• UCL Institute for Global Prosperity
• London Prosperity Board
• UCL Citizen Science Academy
• Previous research: Ethnicity and Prosperity in east London

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