“I’m praying to god, ‘don't regenerate my estate’ because regeneration has become a nasty word” (Social housing tenant, at a meeting held to discuss regeneration in the Tottenham area of north London, 2016).

This statement, made by an anxious tenant, encapsulates the main theme of this book. Regeneration refers to an urban policy involving spatially targeted reinvestment in and revitalisation of physically deteriorating, economically under-resourced and socially deprived areas – in this case public/council/social housing estates. Even though some regeneration aims can be considered laudable, the practice of regeneration in London has meant that it has become a ‘nasty word’ among estate residents as they see their homes bulldozed and their communities scattered. Much has already been written about this topic by academics, journalists and housing campaigners, but this is the first book to provide an in-depth account of what it means for London social tenants and homeowners to live through the regeneration of their estates over years and even decades. It focuses on regeneration schemes that involve ‘comprehensive redevelopment’ – demolition of an existing estate and rebuilding it as a ‘mixed-tenure neighbourhood’ with large numbers of market properties for sale or rent. Such comprehensive redevelopment fundamentally changes estates in ways that residents don't expect, and are not properly told about by the politicians, officials and consultants who promote it as a way of solving London's housing crisis.

In theory, the Carpenters estate in Stratford, in the east London borough of Newham, has been ‘regenerating’ since 2004. In reality, regeneration hasn't properly started. Instead Newham Council has ‘decanted’ most of the tenants, leaving the estate half-empty for 15 years. Mary and her husband (a retired elderly white working-class couple) had been living at the Carpenters estate for over 40 years, and had bought their house under the Right to Buy (RTB) policy, having first rented from the council. For Mary and her husband, regeneration had appeared to plague them in their twilight years. One question I asked my interviewees, was “who do you think is going to benefit from the regeneration?” This is Mary's reply: “I haven't got a clue, it certainly wasn't us, it wasn't for the likes of us.”