‘The Best New Place to Live’? Visual Research with Residents in East Village and E20

Humphry, Debbie (2017). ‘The Best New Place to Live’? Visual Research with Residents in East Village and E20. In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul eds. London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City A Hollow Legacy? London: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 179–204.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48947-0_6

Abstract

Humphry’s photo-essay emerges from ethnographic research examining the experiences of East Village residents in E20. The portraits elicit a questioning and critical alternative to official hegemonic representations of the London Olympic and Paralympic legacy as variant viewpoints disrupt ideas of an objective representation, a coherent community and a definitive place. The images locate lived relations of place within wider socio-spatial relations, suggesting the role that private finance and its representations play in how the legacy is constructed. This engages with wider debates on power, spectacle and the penetration of the market. What emerges is a place that has not yet been fully inscribed with meaning, but is rather struggling to find its own meaning in the midst of the Olympic hype.

Plain Language Summary

This photo-essay emerges from a mixed-methods research with new residents living in London's East Village, the former Athlete's village, andpresents a critique of the dominant celebratory representations of this Olympic legacy development. This engages with wider debates on power, spectacle and the penetration of the market. What emerges is a place and residents that are seeking their more complex set of meanings in the midst of the Olympic hype.

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