5People feel that cost and the branding of the new buildings is attracting a new type of person who will have little to do with Dalston and do not understand/respect Dalston’s past.
The hoardings that are being put up show people that both gentrifiers and longer-term residents cannot identify with; they are heavily made up and look like they work in the city. The forms of the buildings are exclusive.
They are tall and superior with communal roof gardens, and often gated, shutting the wider community out. It is changing the identity of Dalston into something bland and corporate. The new buildings are described as blocky, square and the same-y. The aesthetic is corporate and city slicker.
Changing Dalston’s unique and diverse character is threatening gentrifers’ sense of identity. Gentrifiers have a strong sense of elective belonging; they have specifically chosen to move to Dalston as they feel it represents how they wish to conceive of themselves. Despite embracing diversity on the one-hand, people are wary of newcomers that might change the identity of the area (and by extension, themselves), or that will not mix with or respect the existing community. Despite maybe having only come to the area a couple of years before, they can distinguish themselves from newer arrival based on the level of care and respect they show for the community.
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