BRUTAL LONDON

London has the second most overpriced property market in the world — the direct result of the so-called "regeneration" process that began in the 1980s with the stated aim of redeveloping "depressed" areas of the city. Since then, it has transformed entire neighbourhoods, driving up land values while deepening economic inequality, and has led to a critical shortage of affordable homes and a rise in properties left vacant — often for years, and predominantly in wealthier neighbourhoods. My work began with a single story. In January 2017, a group of squatters occupied a property in Central London belonging to a Russian billionaire that had stood empty for three years, opening it as a homeless shelter. They were evicted within a week and ordered to pay court costs. That act — and its swift suppression — opened up a wider picture. By connecting perspectives often viewed in isolation, this project explores the structural relationships between different facets of London's housing struggle, addressing the fundamental right to shelter and a home in a city where housing has become primarily an asset. Squatting: Residential squatting was criminalised in the UK in 2012, with further restrictions later applied to non-residential properties, leading to increasingly rapid evictions. Council Estates: Since the 1980s, estates have been stigmatised as unsafe environments and breeding grounds for anti-social behaviour. Councils across London have weaponised these stereotypes to justify demolishing estates and selling the land to private developers. Residents who cannot afford the new properties are forced out of their boroughs and eventually out of London altogether — a process widely described as "social cleansing." The systemic lack of investment and inadequate refurbishments ultimately resulted in the Grenfell Tower fire. New Developments: Proliferating across London due to government tax breaks and public funding for private builds, these developments are designed for capital investment and second-home ownership rather than the needs of local communities, eroding the communities and social fabric that give the city its character.