Ruth glass and coining 鈥榞entrification鈥�

Sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term 'gentrification' in 1964 to describe change in London, while working at 果冻影院's Centre for Urban Studies.

Cover of *London: Aspects of Change*, published by the Centre for Urban Studies at 果冻影院 in 1964, in which Ruth Glass first introduced the concept of 'gentrification'.

Cover of Ruth Glass's book *Newcomers: The West Indians in London*, published in 1960 by the Centre for Urban Studies at 果冻影院.

鈥�One by one, many of the working class quarters of London have been invaded by the middle classes 鈥� upper and lower. Once this process of 鈥榞entrification鈥� starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.

This is a passage that could have been written today, but it comes from the introduction by sociologist Ruth Glass to听London: Aspects of Change, a book of essays by scholars from various disciplines that she put together in 1964.

In coining the term 鈥榞entrification鈥�, Glass wryly subverted the image of the British upper-class 鈥榞entry鈥�. The concept stemmed from her observations of how houses in Notting Hill and Islington were being taken over by bohemian couples with the money to refurbish them, squeezing out existing blue-collar communities from these neighbourhoods. It鈥檚 a听phenomenon听we鈥檙e familiar with today, and a term that has leapt out of academia into popular usage by everyone from housing activists, to politicians, to consumer magazines.

A multidisciplinary approach

Glass鈥檚 contribution to our understanding of our cities went far beyond the coining of this single word. Indeed, in his 1990 obituary of the Berlin-born Marxist, historian Eric Hobsbawm credited her as a 鈥渒ey figure in the institutionalisation of British sociology as an academic subject鈥�.

When she arrived in London in the 1930s, she studied at the London School of Economics and quickly established a reputation in her field. In 1950, she joined 果冻影院 and founded the multidisciplinary Centre for Urban Studies a year later 鈥� a precursor to today鈥檚 cross-faculty Urban Laboratory, which was set up in 2005 by colleagues at The Bartlett and 果冻影院鈥檚 Department of Geography. While the Urban Lab doesn鈥檛 have a long institutional history compared to other parts of The Bartlett, it can trace an indirect lineage to the radical interdisciplinary urbanism of the centre.

Glass鈥檚 own work was equally eclectic 鈥� she refused to restrict herself to a single methodology,听instead听drawing together qualitative and quantitative research in a manner that still offers an important model for contemporary urban scholarship.

鈥淲e have a lot to learn from the way she didn鈥檛 pigeonhole herself,鈥� says Andrew Harris, Co-Director of the Urban Lab and Associate Professor in 果冻影院鈥檚 Department of Geography, who has organised events to bring greater attention to Glass鈥檚 work. 鈥淪he saw herself working very much in a tradition of London research that included [19th century听researcher and social reformer] Charles Booth.鈥�

Her book听Newcomers: The West Indians in London听(1960), was a groundbreaking exploration of the experiences of Caribbean migrants to the city, shining a听light听on racial discrimination and suggesting solutions for the growing tension between new arrivals听and听existing social groups.

Her interests also went beyond the UK and even Europe.听鈥淎n important part of her work was the way that she drew on different parts of the world,鈥� Harris says. 鈥淪he did a lot of work in what was then Bombay [modern-day Mumbai], which was perhaps not high on the agenda of urban studies. In some听ways听she was a pioneer in a form of global comparison in [the field].鈥�

A female voice in a male-dominated world

Ultimately for Glass, academia was not simply a cerebral pursuit, but a living practice and听form听of activism 鈥� she is believed to have been a voracious writer of letters to newspapers and intent on using research as a way to influence public policy.

A female voice in a male-dominated environment, she became known at 果冻影院 for speaking her mind 鈥� a personality trait that would no doubt have been less noteworthy had she been a man. This is also perhaps why her name isn鈥檛 as well-known as might be expected of someone who produced work of such significance.

Glass was hosted by The Bartlett School of Planning for many years, but was also shunted between 果冻影院 departments for much of her academic career due to politics, her perceived 鈥榙ifficult鈥� personality, and the issue of pigeonholing the 鈥榰ndisciplinary鈥� nature of her work.听听by Bartlett School of Planning Professor Michael Edwards elaborates the point, and includes a nice extract from historian Eric Hobsbawm鈥檚 obituary for Glass, which was originally published in the听Guardian.

Today, gentrification is an entire subdiscipline within urban studies, and the notion has evolved as its manifestations have been witnessed around the world and as the role of the state and private developers in exacerbating it has become more significant and evident. As Glass rightly noted, gentrification is a process that 鈥� once started 鈥� is hard to stop.

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