The “HAVES” and the “HAVE YACHTS”

Abstract

In the decade between 2007 and 2017 London changed fundamentally. This article is about how the actions of the transnational über- wealthy — the “have yachts” — impinged on the life- worlds of the “merely wealthy” — “the haves.” As the authors explore the conceptual utility of gentrification as a way of thinking about these seismic urban changes, they conclude that profound socio- spatial changes and new intensities in the financialization of housing, neighborhood tensions, and cultural dislocations are reshaping London as a plutocratic city and the lives of those who live there in historically unprecedented ways. The concept of “super- gentrification,” the authors argue, does not adequately frame these circumstances.