Mobilising Housing Histories

Chapter Six Gentrification: The Case of Canonbury, 1850 to 1975

TANIS HINCHCLIFFE

The term ‘gentrification’ was allegedly coined by sociologist Ruth Glass in her introduction to the 1964 publication, London: Aspects of Change, where in an almost throwaway remark, she referred to the profound changes occurring in some areas of working class London as ‘gentrification’.¹ She observed: ‘Once this process of “gentrification” starts in a district, it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced, and the whole social character of the district is changed.’ ‘Gentrification’, and the transformation of formerly working class neighbourhoods to middle class occupation, has been considered both good and bad. For ...