Disparity of ontological security and sense of place between two neighbourhoods in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Blending architecture, social psychology and urban history, the article approaches demolition from a critical perspective in the light of the ongoing privatisation of urban space and the sidelining of resident voices in the face of urban transformation. Understanding the erosion of familiar environments through urban development as a highly class-dependent dismantling of community ties, the examples of Shieldfield and Heaton are compared, two adjacent neighbourhoods in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK that display radically different approaches to urban residential transformation. Measures of ontological security and sense of place are employed to distinguish the points at which the concept of demolition diverges in the minds of the residents, given the increasing pressures of studentification in one neighbourhood and gentrification in the other. The resident perspective on demolition shows a deep need for a sense of belonging and control, with community ownership emerging as a potential solution.