Yixuan Wang

‘The administrative occupation of Bermondsey’ discusses the squeeze of gentrification on residents’ living spaces through researching the Bermondsey area of London.

The culture of an area often relates directly to its local social structures and can be deeply affected by rules and customs. Under the control of capital and authority, many people do not really own the space they are living in, in an administrative sense. Yet some areas have strong local cultures, with people defining the social identity of the land they are living in, competing for their ownership of the locality, and the right to live their life in an administrative and cultural sense.

How we appraise and understand a space depends on the reality that takes place there. How do people use their living space? What is the relationship between an area and people, the relationship between people and matters, between people and people?

My research focuses on how ordinary people escape the rules and regulations set by the producers of social elements or authorities and gain more rights to survive and create their own lives provocatively.