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Changing places: investigating the 2011 London riots

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Independent lesson on the London Riots

As you go through these slides, make notes on the content and complete the activities.
Instructions highlighted in blue are the minimum that you must write down / make notes on.
If a title or sub-title is highlighted in blue, this means that ALL of the notes that follow are essential.

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The 2011 London Riots

This presentation is about the riots that took place in London during the summer of 2011.

These riots are often studied as part of the Changing Places topic at A level. They represent a conflict that occurred amongst contrasting groups in the community and were arguably caused by economic inequality, lack of political engagement and representation and ethnic tensions – key themes throughout the Changing Places topic. �

This presentation considers:

what happened in the summer of 2011?
what caused the riots?
how do the riots link to changing places and regeneration?

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The 2011 London Riots

As you work through this enquiry, it is important to remember the contested nature of many of the issues discussed.

There is not a single cause of the riots nor a simple way to ‘solve’ many of the issues raised.

This is what makes the 2011 London riots a geographical example: they occurred in several different places and as a result of interwoven processes, values and events.

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The London Riots: what happened?

On Thursday 4 August 2011 Mark Duggan was shot by police in London as they attempted to arrest him. That weekend, a group of around 120 people protested about the shooting outside Tottenham police station. Whilst this protest was peaceful, later in the evening on Saturday 6 August more violent protests began.

The protests continued overnight and by Sunday 7 August riots were taking place in 12 different areas of London.�

Between the 6 and 10 August 2011, a total of 66 areas nationwide experienced rioting.

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The London Riots- what happened?

The impacts of the riots included:

damage to shops and buildings (ranging from smashed windows to buildings being burnt down)
looting of shops
the deaths of five people
nearly 200 households in London being displaced because of damage to their homes.

Resources

In this BBC article, one police officer describes his experience of policing the riots.
This video provides an introduction to the complex causes of the riots.

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What caused this conflict?

Look at the photos of the events below. Before we consider the causes in more details, can you come up with any initial ideas?

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What caused this conflict?

Look at the photos of the events below. Before we consider the causes in more details, can you come up with any initial ideas?

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What caused this conflict?

There are many complex causes of the riots that may include:

lack of political engagement and representation
economic and social inequalities
differing views on the need for regeneration in the area.

Activity

Create a table with a column for each of the possible causes of the riots above. As you read the articles on the next slide, complete the table using as much detail as possible.

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The complex causes

Resources

This Guardian article from 2011 gives an overview of causes identified.
This article from 2016 (five years on) focuses on racial tensions in the area and across London.
This opinionated article focuses on economic inequality as a cause of the riots.

Activities

Read the articles in the box above and complete your table on the possible causes of the London riots.
Look at your completed table. Consider using a colour-coding system to further organise your notes.

Which are background and underlying causes compared to direct causes of the riots?
Which of these causes and factors is a short-term cause?
Which are long-term causes?

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Having read the articles and completed your table:

which of the causes is the most controversial and contested and why?
how significant do you think each possible cause is and why?

Is there one cause that appears to be the most significant? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Considering the significance of causes

Activity

Write an extended paragraph discussing the significance of�different causes.

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In 2013, the Government published a response to the riots. �You can read the report here.

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The Government’s response

Activities

Read the introduction to the report (p.4)

What are the key messages?
What kind of language is used and why?
Which of the possible causes are discussed? �

Read the conclusion to the report (p.30) �Consider the same questions as above before answering these questions:

Have any of the complex causes be dealt with? If yes, how?
If no, what do you think needs to happen to avoid riots like this happening again?

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The wider context

These riots are undoubtedly linked to wider issues of inequality and a lack of economic opportunity in the community. To explore the wider context further, look at how the London Borough of Haringey compares to other parts of London:

The ‘Trust For London’ website gives poverty and inequality data for Haringey. Tottenham (where the riots started) in is Haringey.
This ESRI story map shows the 10% most deprived areas in England according to the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data. Have a look at the area around Tottenham where the riots began. How does this link to your earlier notes on the causes?
The Index of Multiple Deprivation mapper allows you to see changes in the IMD between 2015 and 2019. You can also compare areas of Tottenham to the rest of the UK and see how it scores in different measures of deprivation. Again, compare what you find out here to your earlier notes.

Resource

Explore the GEO unit about how to use the IMD here.

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People have very different opinions about what caused the initial riots in Tottenham in 2011. However, what is undisputed is that this is an area of high deprivation and an area that has been declining for many decades.

Since 2011, major regeneration projects have been announced in the area. Read an overview of the plans here. ��This website states that the regeneration will include ‘a skills and jobs programme boosting growth and helping to restore local pride.’ �

Regeneration in the area

Activity

To what extent do you think that regeneration of the area will help to deal with the causes of the riots?

Will regeneration stop something like the riots from happening again?

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Various reports, plans and articles do not doubt the need for regeneration in Tottenham and many explicitly discuss the riots.

To further consider the key question (to what extent do you think that regeneration of the area will help to deal with the causes of the riots?) read the following to help form an opinion:

Stating that ‘decades of random initiatives have randomly rained down upon the area and failed to address the underlying problems’, this report is very clear on what needs to happen to avoid a repeat of the riots.
This article considers the possible advantages and disadvantages of regeneration in the area.

Regeneration in the area

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Summary

This presentation has considered what happened in the summer of 2011 and the various causes of these riots.

Whether or not regeneration will help solve many of the problems you’ve read about is a complex question. After all, different groups of people in the area will have different opinions about the type of regeneration and whether or not it will be successful.

When discussing the riots, it is important to consider issues of economic inequality, lack of political engagement and representation and ethnic tensions that have such an impact of local people’s lives.

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Taking it further

For more on the wider context of the riots, read the paper below by Gemma Catney in Geography journal.

This paper considers whether the UK is becoming increasing segregated as it becomes more ethnically diverse.

The ideas discussed in this paper are inherently linked to the ethnic tensions and issues around a lack of political engagement and political representation of certain groups that you have considered in relation to the riots.

As you read consider the following questions:

What does Catney mean by ‘damaging public discourses’ about segregation?
Why is segregation and integration such a complex issue?
How does this link to the causes of the London riots that you’ve read about?

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Glossary

Inequality: the state of not being equal. �Inequality exists in a place if people have different levels of access to resources such as housing, income and public services.
Looting: stealing goods from a place.
Political engagement: being actively involved in the running of an organisation, community or country. Political engagement might take a variety of different forms for example volunteering, voting in elections, or writing your MP to express an opinion on a topic.
Political representation: being represented in political processes. Feeling that somebody is speaking on behalf of your viewpoints and representing your opinions when making decisions.
Regeneration: long-term upgrading of existing places or more drastic renewal schemes for areas.

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Links

For more information, continue to read the various reports about the riots and what caused them. Here are a few examples of further reading:

Find out more:

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Acknowledgements

This presentation has been written by Kate Stockings, Subject Leader for Geography, Hampstead School, London.

Figures

Slide 7: Source of images: (left) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shop_fire_during_London_riots,_2011.jpg; (right) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:After_the_Riot_-_Rheola_Close_Tottenham_1.jpg
Slide 8: Sources of images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shop_fire_during_London_riots,_2011.jpg; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:After_the_Riot_-_Rheola_Close_Tottenham_1.jpg