Critical Cartographies: Mapping Artists' Experiences of (Un)Affordable Housing

Dr Sofia Greaves for Bow Arts Research Group

Project aims

To create large-scale maps depicting artists' experiences of affordable housing at the Bow Arts Thamesmead site, and the impact artists have within communities there. This project will use participatory methods to communicate this knowledge as art to broad audiences in appropriate and engaging ways. My art and research aims to support the provision of long-term affordable creative work and living space for artists in London. As per London Cultural Strategy, Policy 6 / Action 25.

Problem statement

Since the 2000s artists have clustered in declined parts of London's industrial areas and brought new life in ways which quickly attract other creative enterprises and activities (Davis 2016). Increasingly researchers are trying to represent the many ways which artists bring value to communities by living and working there in order to support the continued existence of these communities. However, it is clear that there is also an increasing shortage of affordable housing for artists which is exacerbated by gentrification occurring as a result of the value artists themselves have added (Watt 2013). Creative initiatives reliant upon low rents in warehouses which have been repurposed as live-work spaces are being dismantled by state-led processes of gentrification and replaced by mid-rise residential apartment blocks which are more profitable - as in Hackney where the borough is being “hollowed out” and “housing options are failing to meet the specific needs of the creative practitioners that require space to both work and live” (Bristow 2022: 4).

Initiatives like Bow Arts address such challenges by providing affordable housing, studio and exhibition space across London. This project focuses on one Bow Arts site - Thamesmead - a project facilitated by Peabody. The aim is to ask artists living and working at Thamesmead about their experiences of affordability, and to communicate that knowledge through art in ways which are meaningful for participants and impactful amongst broad audiences.

To do this I will produce three large scale maps. Here the aim is to:

1. Understand artists experiences in holistic ways

Our experiences of place are complex and often cannot be expressed as words because thoughts, feelings and histories are not easily communicated. By creating maps which combine different data from architectural drawings to stories, emotions, images and fabric (for example), we can communicate a more holistic picture of how and why living and working collectively is important for artists. These maps also offer a means to communicate that knowledge to policymakers and publics in impactful ways.

2. Redefine "Economic Value"
Organisations trying to understand the economic impact artists have within places and communities typically think in market-based and potentially instrumental terms: money exchanging hands, purchasing materials, creating jobs, generating products etc. This is quite a narrow definition of meaningful economic exchange and impact. We can expand these definitions, and better understand the value artists bring to an area, by spotlighting how a broader range of non-market based activities are an "investment" and a "regenerative force": for example, economies of care and commoning (Jackson 2025). In so doing we can better argue for the sustained funding and inclusion of affordable living space for artists within communities.

3. Maintain affordability for artists long-term

Given that artists bring value to a place, there is a risk of gentrification and development which excludes artists from that space long term. Further, such development may transform the qualities of the site which artists found appealing and fruitful - for example green space and tranquillity. How can we challenge the dynamics of development in London such that sites remain "affordable" for artists to live and work there long term? How can we support a sense of stability and permanence for artists?

Get involved

These maps build on an existing body of research conducted by Bow Arts. I would like to produce the maps with as much resident and community participation as possible. I will conduct drop-in sessions at the Thamesmead site between June and August. Please get in touch via the form below if you would like to meet, speak more, and contribute. Contribution might involve sharing material which is meaningful for you - photos, leaves, a drawing, stories etc - either for literal inclusion in the map, or as inspiration. I am open to whatever you would like to do.

Each map takes a theme and potential elements, as below:

MAP 1. Place identity

Understanding artists experiences and the importance of affordable housing in holistic ways
The importance of the Thamesmead site for artists living and working there
Pride, home, connection, roaming, contemplation, personal transformation, being alive, collaboration, stories, emotion, communities, dynamics, melody, confidence
Poems, tree rubbings, clay, wood, fabric, prints, drawings, observations

MAP 2. Embeddedness

Relations between people on site and “outside” geographies
Expanding definitions of economic value. Economies of care: facilitating, supporting, organising, connecting, instigating, enabling, inspiring, resilience, sharing, helping, building, commoning
Material flows
Knowledge economies: teaching, en-skilling
Changes in perspective, opening minds, rethinking
Market-based exchanges

MAP 3. "The System"

Building on work by my colleague Dr Anna Pagani, Senior Lecturer, Housing Studies/Engineering, King's College London.

How to ensure “affordability” of this space and place for artists long term given the dynamics of development and gentrification
The structure and dynamics of the housing sector, including dependencies, feedback loops, places of resistance and possible places to intervene in order to reshape housing for the benefit of all (Pagani et al., 2024a, 2024b)
The place of Thamesmead within this system and landscape
Experiences of "the system": uncertainty, insecurity, affordability, worry, stability, settled, security

Outputs

These three large-scale maps will be exhibited at a location in London for interested artists, local publics and policymakers. The exhibition is aligned with the ethos of arts-based research which mounts a "radical, politically grounded statement about social justice and control over the production and dissemination of knowledge (Finley 2008: 72)." ABR positions the researcher as a collaborator who co-creates knowledge about a subject with participants through inclusive approaches which treat diverse voices and knowledges as legitimate evidence. I would like to represent a holistic picture of artists' experiences in order to include these knowledges in the formulation of “rational” planning action for affordable housing provision.
The research will be published with an academic journal targeted at housing specialists.
The project will also feature on the Postgrowth Planning Podcast.
Whatever outputs emerge along the way..

Let me know you'd like to be involved in mapping artists' experiences of (un)affordable housing

If you would like to be involved in this research, to share your thoughts, or talk more please get in touch below.
I will be visiting the Thamesmead site June - August 2025.

This research is funded by the Bow Arts as part of the Bow Arts Research Group 2025. Registered Charity Number 1046958

Relevant references:

Greaves, Sofia. "Spatial Critiques of Growth" In Critiques of Growth, ed. M Pansera and J Lloveras. University of Vigo, 2024. https://doi.org/10.35869/CRITIQUESOFGROWTH.

Greaves, S. and L. Munteanu, "Editorial. Degrowth Arts Special Issue," Degrowth Journal Volume 3 (2025) Special Issue: Arts 00308.
https://osuny.s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/00lpx0hda0b60cze42cntax4d8pu

Greaves, Sofia, Caterina Benincasa, Virginia Bernardi, and Adriaan Eeckels. “SciArt Collaborations at the Joint Research Centre: Understanding and Evaluating Transdisciplinary Innovation beyond Economic Value.” Technovation 143 (May 2025): 103229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103229.

Pagani, Anna, Nici Zimmermann, Alex Macmillan, Ke Zhou, and Michael Davies. “Systemic Issues in the English Social Housing Sector: Mapping Interconnected Challenges Faced by London-Based Housing Associations.” Housing Studies, March 7, 2025, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2025.2467093.

Pagani, Anna, Alex Macmillan, Federico Savini, Michael Davies, and Nici Zimmermann. “What If There Were a Moratorium on New Housebuilding? An Exploratory Study with London-Based Housing Associations.” Built Environment 51, no. 1 (March 1, 2025): 73–94. https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.51.1.73.

Bristow, C. 2022. “HOUSING INNOVATION TO SUSTAIN CREATIVE PRACTICE IN HACKNEY WICK AND FISH ISLAND.”

Creative Land Trust et al. 2021. The Impact of Creative Workspace on Local Residential Property. https://creativelandtrust.org/creative-places-create-value

Davis, Juliet. “The Making and Remaking of Hackney Wick, 1870–2014: From Urban Edgeland to Olympic Fringe.” Planning Perspectives 31, no. 3 (July 2, 2016): 425–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2015.1127180.

Watt, Paul. “‘It’s Not for Us.’” City 17, no. 1 (February 2013): 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2012.754190.

SOFIA GREAVES