Record of Change
» Kensington Public Housing Estate » Relocated
Kensington Public Housing Estate
Many people live their entire lives no more then fifteen kilometres from where they were born.
Possibly this is because of a primal need for the village, the place where people first form their sense of self-identity.
But there are sound functional reasons for not moving into alien territory.
One loses the support networks of family and friends, the priceless local knowledge of transport, employment opportunities, hospitals, doctors and shops; of how things work, of what fits where; of who matters at a time of crisis or celebration; of who can help in an emergency and who might join in the small and great rituals of everyday life.
One incorrect assumption about public housing is that all tenants are transient. Some do come and go, but many do not readily forget the relationships they formed with other people and their environment on the estate. Residents often comment on how many former residents, even when they have moved to far-flung outer suburbs, return to the inner-city high rise estates for community activities. Others remain for twenty or thirty years, if not their entire lifetime. All to a greater or lesser extent share memories of their lives on the estate, of where they were, or are, located.
What happens to such lives, to such memories, if people are relocated?
