Staying Afloat? Making Home and Creating Place on London's Canals and Rivers

在过去的30年里，伦敦的住宅景观和街区发生了巨大的变化，经济结构调整，再生计划和中产阶级化进程将城市曾经破败的部分转变为充满活力和理想的居住地（参见Hamnett 2003，Butler和Robson 2003，Camplin 2013）。然而，随着全球化大都会人口的增长，家庭结构发生了变化，其住房存量日益成为投资和投机的焦点。大量移民到伦敦增加了城市的社会复杂性，并增加了住房压力，导致家庭生活越来越移动的和不稳定的经历，特别是对低收入群体（Vertovec 2007，Jordan et al 2017，DeVerteuil 2017）。这导致人们质疑伦敦的可持续性及其在日益严重的社会和空间不平等中促进社会公正生活方式的能力（Imrie和Lees 2013）。这与过去十年伦敦水道的显著变化相吻合，其中最明显的表现是沿着城市运河和通航河流停泊的船只数量的增长。根据运河和河流信托（CRT）-该研究项目的主要合作伙伴-负责可持续管理伦敦100英里的水道，自2010年以来，停泊船只的数量翻了一番，超过4，000艘船，在最近的一项调查中，58%的受访者将船只作为主要住所（CRT 2016; 2017）。据估计，多达10，000人生活在伦敦的水道上（伦敦议会，2013年）。但是，除了成为伦敦人努力支付“陆上”住宿或选择替代生活方式和家庭的高成本的重要居住地之外，大都市运河和河流也是新经济活动和新兴休闲娱乐场所的焦点，“蓝色空间”及其相邻的绿色空间被高度评价为有助于城市居民的福祉。拖路对城市的连通性很重要，并已成为促进可持续交通战略的关键，因为拖路被推广为自行车和步行路线以及服务和公用事业（天然气/电力/光纤）的战略路线。这些线性相连的蓝色空间也为野生动物提供了重要的迁徙路线，并成为城市中心生物群的重要避难所。然而，城市水道使用的迅速变化也导致了不同用户之间的冲突，例如船民和他们的陆上邻居。2013年，伦敦议会委托编写了一份关于伦敦水道系泊的报告，提出了几项关键建议，包括增加系泊能力，改善通道和设施（伦敦议会，2013年）。这项研究将有助于CRT更好地了解那些在伦敦的运河和河流上安家的人的需求，并为CRT与所有用户的工作提供信息，以发展水道环境，使其成为可持续和高质量的生活、工作和享受一系列休闲活动的场所。这项及时研究的结果将支持实现CRT的伦敦水道伙伴关系十年战略计划（2014年）及其最近推出的伦敦系泊战略草案（2017年）。该项目将开发知识和理论框架，以了解当代家庭和沿着伦敦的水道战略。它将产生新的证据，为信托基金的工作提供信息，并评估衡量其影响的方法。

The past 30 years have seen dramatic changes to London's residential landscapes and neighbourhoods as economic restructuring, programmes of regeneration, and processes of gentrification have transformed once run-down parts of the city into vibrant and desirable places to live in (see, for example, Hamnett 2003, Butler and Robson 2003, Camplin 2013). Yet as the population of the globalising metropolis has grown, household structures have changed, and its housing stock has increasingly become the focus of investment and speculation. High levels of migration to London have added to the city's social complexity and have increased pressures on housing leading to increasingly mobile and precarious experiences of domestic life, especially for lower income groups (Vertovec 2007, Jordan et al 2017, DeVerteuil 2017). This has led to a questioning of the sustainability of London and its ability to promote socially just ways of living amidst growing social and spatial inequality (Imrie and Lees 2013). This coincides with a remarkable transformation of London's waterways in the last decade, the most visible manifestation of which has been the growth in the number of boats moored along the city's canals and navigable rivers. According to the Canal & River Trust (CRT) - the main partner in this research project - who are responsible for sustainably managing 100 miles of London's waterways, the number of moored boats has doubled since 2010 to over 4,000 vessels and in a recent survey 58% of respondents were using their boats as their primary home (CRT 2016; 2017). It is estimated that as many as 10,000 people live on London's waterways (London Assembly 2013). But as well as becoming an important place to live for Londoners struggling to pay the high costs of 'on land' accommodation or choosing an alternative lifestyle and home, metropolitan canals and rivers are also the focus of new economic activity and emerging sites of leisure and recreation, with 'blue space' and their adjoining green spaces being highly valued as contributing to the well-being of the city's inhabitants. Towpaths are important to the city's connectivity and have become key to strategies for enabling sustainable transport through their promotion as cycling and walking routes and as strategic routes for services and utilities (gas/electricity/fibre). These linear, connected blue spaces also provide vital migratory routes for wildlife and act as important refugia for biota in urban centres. However, the rapid change in the use of the city's waterways has also led to conflicts between different users, such as boaters and their on-land neighbours. In 2013 the London Assembly commissioned a report into mooring on London's waterways making several key recommendations including increasing capacity for mooring, and improving access and facilities (London Assembly 2013). This research will assist the CRT in better understanding the needs of those who make their homes on London's canals and rivers and inform CRT's work with all users to develop waterway environments as sustainable and high-quality places for living, working and enjoying a range of leisure activities. The findings of this timely study will support realisation of the CRT's London Waterways Partnership Ten Year Strategic Plan (2014) and its recently launched Draft London Mooring Strategy (2017). The project will develop intellectual and theoretical frameworks for understanding contemporary home and place-making strategies along London's waterways. It will generate new evidence to inform the Trust's work and assess ways of measuring its impact.