Urban Precarity: Affordable Art Studios and Creative Flight in the Post Covid City

Current discussions about the value of studio space, the crisis of affordability and the retail decline of the central city, make London an excellent case study for exploring how urban transformations are manifesting in different models of studio provision. Affordable studios have figured prominently in London's regional political agenda, as sites of social, cultural and economic value. Policy interest in the contribution of studios to urban (re)development strategies and to the generation of 'buzz' in certain inner- city areas, has also been gaining a great deal of momentum at different levels of local and regional government.
But the artists' workspace sector in London is at risk. The most common type of property occupation is through rented or otherwise licenced terms (leasehold tenure). Having initially provided a useful strategy for meeting the short-term needs for low-cost workspace, the proliferation of this 'meanwhile' or 'borrowed infrastructure' model, has left many studios vulnerable to change of use or redevelopment. This issue has been noted in other global cities, but is particularly acute in London at the moment, which is due to lose 17 per cent of studio space by 2022; 39 sites were already closed between 2014-2017, resulting in an estimated loss of 1300 artists' studios (GLA, 2018).
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated these pressures and conditions of precarity across London's creative sector, but simultaneously presents an opportunity to rethink what we do with empty buildings and high streets. It could present new opportunities for temporary creative use, whilst stimulating economic activity and avoiding vacant spaces. Despite meanwhile use being an unsustainable model of studio provision, it is necessary to ask, within this post-COVID context, if creative practitioners whose low and unstable incomes have been further compounded by the economic loss caused by Coronavirus, could benefit from the increased flexibility of short-term leases. This raises important questions about the value of 'permanent' and 'ephemeral' creative spaces and provision models in the post-COVID city.
It is within this context that the UK's first Creative Land Trust (CLT) is being developed. The CLT was established in 2019 as a charitable organisation by the Greater London Authority with the aim of creating affordable workspace in London for artists in perpetuity. This involves purchasing property to rent back to artists and by providing financial support for arts groups to buy their own buildings. The Trust has recently (early 2021) secured its first purchase, a former industrial site in Hackney Wick, which offers a timely and significant opportunity to augment my research in this field.
In light of these urban transformations, the aim of the Fellowship is to understand the role that the CLT can play in shaping and reimagining creative workspace in the city and its potential to establish permeance in this dynamic context. It also has six key areas of action. The first is to develop two sole-authored, peer-reviewed publications, and a policy-facing report for London's studio sector. These publications will engage with interdisciplinary discussions in urban studies, creative industries and cultural policy. The second, is to carry out further limited research into the changing models of studio provision in London and explore the temporalities of the creative city, to compliment earlier fieldwork in London. Including a small amount of comparative research with international provision models in San Francisco and Berlin. The Third, is to host a 1-day stakeholder roundtable at City Hall, to engage policy makers and key stakeholders in London's studio sector in these debates. The fourth action is to communicate my research findings to academic and non-academic audiences; the fifth is to extend my professional networks; and the sixth, to develop a new collaborative research project through these networks.