Lansdowne Green /
What is Development?

What is Development? This was a question raised by a tenant of Lansdowne Green in Stockwell, South London. It came during a community project on the estate using oral histories and Feldenkrais to explore issues connected to social housing from a tenant’s perspective, focusing on tenant empowerment and wellbeing, as well as the design and use of the estate’s architecture and sustaining non-affluent communities in central London.

During initially open-ended conversations a picture emerged of an estate with a proud history of self-organising, involving the work of ‘social reproduction’ in its broadest sense to include - caring for the environment of the estate its buildings and grounds, fostering its cultural life, organising activities for toddlers, young people and seniors, as well as providing language skills for new arrivals. This work has mostly been done by women who over the decades have made a significant contribution to the community. In parallel our project has offered regular one to one Feldenkrais sessions to tenants, a technique which was used to improve physical and mental health through movement, and to promote closer ties with the community.

A display in the Hangar Gallery at the Royal College of Art featured sound recordings, Feldenkrais charts, architectural drawings, and tenants personal archives relating to community led activities and the estate’s regeneration. Event included a research presentation by Grant Watson and Yael Davids, a Feldenkrais demonstration by RCA students, and a panel discussion about the lived experience of social housing, its development, maintenance and adaptation, both historically and today, with tenants, architects and urbanists.

What is Feldenkrais?

The Feldenkrais Method is a set of lessons that are given to either a group, or one-on-one. The individual sessions last around sixty minutes and often take as their starting point some movement that the student would like to improve, or one that the student finds difficult. Lessons are flexible in their approach and are determined by the student’s needs. The student lies comfortably on a table designed specifically for the work. The lessons can also be done sitting or standing. The practitioner uses a gentle non-invasive touch to move the student’s body. This gentle touch is designed to help the student become aware of how they move, how they organise their body and their actions. It can suggest new patterns of movement that are more comfortable, efficient, and useful. During the session there is a dialogue between the practitioner and the student addressing what is happening to them physically. The result is more choice and flexibility in how the student moves through life, as well as increased vitality. Feldenkrais practitioners believe that everything we have ever experienced is stored in our bodies and this has an effect on the way we stand, move, and even breathe. Over time, these experiences may have a negative impact causing tension, pain, or injury.

I joined the community project at Lansdowne Green Estate after an invitation from Grant Watson who lived on the estate for twenty years. I myself have a social housing flat in Amsterdam South and I am grateful for it on a daily basis. The area where I live is called De Pijp. It was built in the 19th century and includes a high density of social housing, in the last years it has become increasingly gentrified.

For this project we decided to work in parallel, offering both interviews and Feldenkrais to tenants of Lansdowne Green. Through these approaches we aimed to make direct contact with tenants and learn from their experiences. At first there was not much enthusiasm to participate in Feldenkrais lessons (due to the unfamiliarity of this method) but once I started working with tenants I experienced a warmth and interest and eventually gave ongoing individual lessons to around five tenants. Feldenkrais works best when it is part of a regular routine. Unfortunately, living abroad I could not visit the estate as frequently as I would have liked, so we looked for someone from the UK and inviting Ruth Polden, an experienced Feldenkrais practitioner to collaborate with us.

Though the Feldenkrais method we were able to create more intimate dialogues with the participants. At times some of them have struggled with certain physical conditions but they were always warm, committed and welcoming.

Yael Davids

Architects drawings of Lansdowne Green Estate 1953
These reproductions of the architectural drawings of Lansdowne Green show the elevations of the different blocks which make up the estate.
They were included in the drainage report submitted to Lambeth Council and are held in the Lambeth Archives.
Reproduced courtesy of Lambeth Archives.