Minimum City? The Deeper Impacts of the ‘Super-Rich’ on Urban Life

This chapter offers an analysis of the spatial distribution of the wealthy in London and considers how their pronounced growth has affected neighbourhood life and the social politics of London. These changes entwine with ideological commitments to welcome capital and the rich, while at the same time, investments and commitments in the public sphere diminish. We thereby consider the lived impacts of these shifts at a time when the city faces one of the worst social crises in generations. We describe this political conjunction and its associated socio-spatial formations as a ‘minimum city’ in which growing abundance among the few moves the city away from collective provision, social justice and inclusive urban spaces.