The simultaneous slow death and persistent vitality of social infrastructure in elite neighbourhoods

This article examines the vitality of social life at street level over time in the patrician elite area of Kensington, London. We consider how luxury amenities, prime homes and high-end stores intersect with the durable presence of an everyday, working city comprising diverse social infrastructures: budget hotels, rent-controlled housing and interstitial social spaces of cafes, parks and street benches. These layers of uses and users co-exist in complex time–space configurations despite the historical and contemporary designation of the neighbourhood as an elite space. Using a range of data sources, we show how the neighbourhood contains distinct features that enable the limited and partial social engagement and hypermobility of wealthy bodies with the social life of the area. However, we also find a diverse social history, culture and complex grounded experiences at street level involving a wide range of residents and other users. These observations demonstrate how, even in the most elite of urban neighbourhoods, spaces remain socially complex and diverse, despite ongoing tensions.