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Anyone who lives in the Barbican estate, what is the connection between open and enclosed public/semi public space in the estate?
Do all residents and visitors feel equally at home in the complex? Or does t… I'm mostly wondering how does the complex work with the space for public and its residents and the question if inclusivity
Do all residents and visitors feel equally at home in the complex? Or does the divide between private flats and public arts venues subtly reinforce social boundaries within the estate?
honestly i think the real answer is about the lifts. the tower blocks have these tiny slow lifts that force you to share a cramped space with strangers and you can instantly tell who lives there vs who's just visiting. residents have that dead-eyed thousand yard stare while tourists are craning their necks looking at the brutalist concrete ceilings. the foyer of speed house especially has this weird vibe where tourists will wander in looking for the conservatory and realise they can't get past the security gate so they just stand there confused. the semi-public spaces work because the estate is so badly signposted that everyone gets lost together, tourists and residents alike end up in the same dead ends near the waitrose loading bay. inclusivity is more about who has patience for the labyrinth than who has a key fob
the thing about the barbican is the highwalks create this weird third space that isn't quite public or private. residents use them as shortcuts to the waitrose or the tube, but tourists treat them like an extension of the conservatory route. there's this spot near the podium outside the cinema where you'll see a group of architecture students sketching while a resident walks their dog past them, nobody really acknowledges each other. the real divide is the internal gardens honestly, you need a fob to get in and they're basically silent green rooms away from the arts crowds, so residents retreat there and the public stays on the concrete. the inclusivity question matters most at the ben jonson house entrance where the post room is, it's this cramped corridor that everyone uses but it feels like a service passage, not a welcoming space for anyone
fwiw i think the real split is vertical not horizontal. the podium level is where everyone mixes but the moment you go up to the balconies or down to the car park it becomes purely residential. the beech gardens car park entrance has this brutal concrete ramp that feels like a service tunnel but its actually the main way residents get their shopping in, tourists never see it. the lake terrace is the only spot where the two worlds actually touch, you get residents smoking on their balconies above while tourists take photos of the water below, but theres no eye contact. inclusivity wise the estate works best for people who treat it like a stage set, if you're a visitor whos just passing through youll never feel unwelcome because nobody notices you, but if you're a resident you learn to ignore the crowds completely
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What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking