Marketing to kids in 1987. Photo / Supplied
Segregation starts young
A housing development in London is segregating the children of renting tenants from homeowners by blocking them from communal play areas. Henley Homes developed the Baylis Old School complex in south London and was required to include a mix of "affordable" homes to buy and some lower-cost
rental units in order to gain planning permission.
Original information described the outdoor space as having "a network of courtyards and open spaces ... which will provide attractive areas for informal play. This will emphasise the sense of community within the scheme stressing that the common areas are there for the use of all the residents."
But as the units were being finished, the developers gained permission from the local council to replace the gates that allowed the kids living in subsidised housing to access the playground with a hedge that walled them off.
It's similar to the phenomenon of poor doors, already widespread in London, whereby people who live in subsidised units, built in exchange for a planning permission, are forced to use a separate lobby to that of the rich people they share a building with. (Via Guardian Cities)
