THE IMPACT OF THE OLYMPICS ON COMMUNITY COHESION IN EAST LONDON

Unlike most people I know, I have never moved house. I was born in Homerton Hospital and raised a few miles down the road in Shoreditch, so essentially East London is a part of my DNA. The streets, the houses, the neighbours, shops, and faces, all make up the blueprint of the place I have called my home for all of my life. Knowing all these things in detail means that I notice the changes – in detail. Some changes are more subtle than others, like a new bus route running through the area. Others are more dramatic like a giant stadium being built in my back yard.
A sense of change has resonated throughout East London since the announcement that London had successfully won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics in 2005. Five years on, and getting ever closer to the big event, discussion on the Olympics can be heard anywhere in the streets of East London as the buzz word becomes a deafening chorus of opinions.