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Who owns London? In recent decades, it has fallen into the hands of the super-rich. It is today the essential 'World City' for High-Net-Worth Individuals and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals. Compared to New York or Tokyo, it has the largest number of wealthy people per head of population. Taken as a whole, London is the epicentre of the world's finance markets, an elite cultural hub, and a place to hide one's wealth.
Alpha City moves from gated communities and the mega-houses of the super-rich to the disturbing rise of evictions and displacements from the city. It shows how the consequences of widening inequality have an impact on the urban landscape. Rowland Atkinson presents a history of the property boom economy, going back to the end of Empire. It tells the story of eager developers, sovereign wealth and grasping politicians, all paving the way for the wealthy colonisation of the cityscape. The consequences of this transformation of the capital for capital is the brutal expulsion of the urban poor, austerity, cuts, demolitions, and a catalogue of social injustices.
About the author
Rowland Atkinson is Research Chair in Inclusive Societies at the University of Sheffield. His research has focused on the spatial impacts of social inequalities, taking in work on gentrification and displacement, gated communities, public housing, social exclusion, fortress homes and, of course, the super-rich. Seeing the role of social science as bringing attention to social problems he has highlighted the need for social housing and more attention to be paid to the invisible casualties of complex urban processes. He is the author of Domestic Fortress (with Sarah Blandy) and Urban Criminology (with Gareth Millington).
Summary
How London was bought and sold by the Super-Rich, and what it means for the rest of us
Report
Alpha City is the heart-breaking, carefully-told, story of how London - its heart, mind and soul - was stolen from the people by the plutocrats and their minions. When, the book asks, will the greed of the super-rich end up strangling the city, whose body sustains them? Rowland Atkinson has delved deep to uncover the extent of the super-rich's grip on London. A masterpiece. Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and 1%
