“Regeneration” and Black Atlantic Music in the London Borough of Lewisham

Abstract

Since 2001, the London Borough of Lewisham has been site of many aggressive “regeneration” schemes, which Lewisham Council justifies with narratives problematising the area and people within it. Three music videos, however, offer alternative perspectives on how air pollution, policing, and “regeneration” impact the existing public life of residents there. 

Research conducted in summer 2021 sought to understand how and why Black Atlantic music culture practitioners use particular spaces, and how these uses are impacted by the Council’s regeneration. Charles’ (2018) musicological discourse analysis (MDA) methods were adapted, which have not yet been applied in the field of urban planning. In-depth interviews and analysis of interviewees’ music were contextualised by discourse analysis of a 20-year catalogue of planning and regeneration texts by Lewisham Council and the Greater London Authority. Findings indicated that contrary to Council narratives justifying “regeneration,” existing Lewisham residents have a cohesive community borne of communal use of spaces and shared experiences.