Ground Conditions, Clearance Greening and Socioeconomic Persistence in London Neighbourhoods, 1881–2001

Abstract

The assessment of urban green infrastructure tends to be based on measures of parks, gardens, street trees, and open space, but the social impacts of urban greenery are additionally mediated by land form, soils, drainage, history of settlement, and metro connections. This paper focuses on London neighbourhood data for 1881-2001 to evaluate whether greening in poor slum-clearance areas was linked with lower lower-status concentration. The present study interprets the London coefficients in terms of their direction, statistical significance, and reliability for groups of variables including ground conditions and status distribution; the Slum2Green terms among cleared neighbourhoods; and the long-run socioeconomic evolution in light of centrality and the 1908 London Underground line network. In all 197 London neighbourhoods, alluvium land is positively related to lower status concentration in 1881 (\(0.101^{**}\)) and 2001 (\(0.024^{**}\)). Bed rock sand has positive correlations with upper status concentration in 1881 (\(0.984^{*}\)) and 2001 (\(0.390^{***}\)). Slope elevation has negative relationships with class v in 1881 (\(-4.115^{***}\)), and positive correlations with social classes i–ii, \(2.027^{*}\). The main Slum2Green coefficients by 2001 tend to be positive or close to zero, and are weakly statistically significant in all specifications except for all-clearance and MSOA. Period-specific greening indicators have mixed signs, without strong evidence of a persistent reduction in lower-status concentration due to greening. The size of clearance, proximity to central London, distance to Westminster, and distance to 1908 underground network exhibit stronger associations. The London experience, thus, suggests no evidence of class replacement in greened slum-clearance areas.