Memory Block explores the phenomena of the now demolished Heygate Estate becoming the go-to ‘urban dystopia’ film location for over 70 feature films and TV crime series from 2007-10. Memory Block shows up how, as a result of systematic long-term disinvestment the ‘problem’ estate came to be seen as sexy in the symbolic economy. Memory Block suggests this fetishization of poverty and planned underdevelopment is part of the Degeneration phase of ‘redevelopment’ and serves the useful purpose in the developer’s social cleansing process by further distorting and wiping the social memory.
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