Home economics

Housing is becoming an increasingly hot topic as the election approaches. Adam Smith investigates the situation for London’s next generation of academics.

“I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could. And it breaks my heart that I never will.” This quote from a PhD researcher screamed across a huge, backlit billboard on Procter Street, close to Holborn in central London, earlier this month. The stark phrase was submitted to a research project called London is Changing, which is using billboards to display the thoughts of Londoners who have left the city. The project is led by Rebecca Ross, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Arts London, who wants to trigger a discussion about the impact of recent economic and policy changes on the culture and diversity of London.

It is no surprise that a PhD student responded to Ross’s online survey. London is filled with doctoral candidates who are squashed into small, shared flats.