The politics of the past: redevelopment in London

The thesis examines the role of heritage values in urban transformation in contemporary London. Two cases of urban redevelopment are explored in detail: the No. 1 Poultry redevelopment in the City of London and the Market redevelopment in Spitalfields. The particular concern is how heritage values have a multitude of expressions and can serve a variety of differentially empowered interests. This diverse, and complex manifestation of the heritage impulse is explored through the thematic tension of Making Monuments and Imagining Communities. The study is located in a revised Marxist approach to cultural studies. It attempts to extend the critique of the current popular interest in the past and also the understanding of how culture and capital intersect in urban processes. The study has a number of distinctive methodological features including the reliance on a two case approach and the attention to contextualized discursive practices. The thesis concludes by examining the consequences of the 'hegemony of heritage' in contemporary urban redevelopment and particularly in relation to power in the city and the understanding of the intersection between culture and capital