ROCA Photography Exhibition
Throwing the spotlight on London’s regeneration
Roca London Gallery will host a photographic exhibition during the London Festival of Architecture, exploring some of the Capital’s key regeneration projects and their impact on the city’s inhabitants.
Entitled Regenerating Capital: Healthy growth, healthy city?, the exhibition will explore the impact regeneration has on green spaces, small businesses, local communities and valued buildings while supporting an increasing population, world-leading financial growth and an international profile.
With an area of just 1,572km2, London is the most densely populated region in the UK. Its population has increased eightfold within the last two centuries to over eight million; and is predicted to swell to nine million by 2020. The city has no other choice than to strive to keep pace with this evolution, in order to provide Londoners with better housing, environment and economic environments.Twelve photographers from different backgrounds have been invited to contribute their interpretations and ideas on the delicate yet near-crucial balancing acts between change and growth; and the inner health of the city of London.
In response, the Capital has been undergoing an urban renaissance over the last two decades, booming with regeneration programmes such as those at Stratford, Elephant and Castle and King’s Cross.
But in the past, regeneration projects haven’t always been successful in the longer term. The Heygate Housing Estate in Elephant and Castle, for example, built in the 1970s, is due for demolition and will be replaced over the next 15 years by nearly 3,000 new homes and 160,000 sq ft of retail space. Have we learned the lessons these short-lived schemes have taught us?