As part of the London Festival of Architecture 2018, Social Life is hosting a free talk and exhibition on June 20th at our offices in Elephant & Castle.
Elephant & Castle is being remade through a series of regeneration projects. This process is meeting resistance from local groups, a contest in which the visions of developers and planners are coming up against existing notions of the area’s identity.
Join us to explore some of the different traditions and histories bound up in the area, from the squatter community of the 1970s and 80s who left their mark in the coops and studios in Walworth, to the Latin American community who have shaped the shopping centre and claimed the Elephant as their hub in the capital.
We will hear from a local residents association about how they are upholding traditions of community action, from a Latin American activist group challenging redevelopment plans for the shopping centre, and we’ll find out about the role of urban nature in shaping local perceptions of place and identity.
An exhibition will also highlight our research into the social value of green space in Walworth, and our psycho-geographic portrait of the area carried out in 2017. For further reading, our 2014 report Trading Places also delved into the experience of traders in the Elephant & Castle shopping centre.
Please register for your free tickets here.
Confirmed speakers: David McEwen (Latin Elephant), Diana Cochrane (Pullens Tenants & Residents Association), Stephen McConnachie (anthropologist).
