Cardboard City (London)

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The underpass between Waterloo Bridge and the Bullring roundabout in 2009, previously the site of Cardboard City Passageway, Waterloo (between the bridge and the bullring, running approximately southwest-northeast) (3504158073).jpg
The underpass between Waterloo Bridge and the Bullring roundabout in 2009, previously the site of Cardboard City

Cardboard City was the name for an informal settlement consisting of temporary cardboard shelters that occupied a site near Waterloo station in London, England. Cardboard City, was lived in by homeless people from around 1978 until 1998, and was eventually closed after a High Court order led to its redevelopment. [1]

Contents

History

Cardboard City was first occupied in 1978. [2] In the mid-1980s the site, in the pedestrian underpasses under the Bullring roundabout near Waterloo station, was home to up to 200 people sleeping in cardboard boxes. By early 1998, fewer than 30 people remained there. [3] These were officially evicted by the London Borough of Lambeth in February 1998, and forced to leave before the end of March 1998. All were offered free housing by the Borough, although there was concern as to whether the residents would be able to cope with housed life. The area is now the site of the BFI IMAX cinema. [3]

See also

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References

  1. "'Cardboard City' meets its Waterloo". BBC. 23 February 1998. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  2. Newsome, Rachel (5 April 1998). "Roofless, but not without neighbours and a home". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  3. 1 2 "'Cardboard City' meets its Waterloo". BBC News. 23 February 1998. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  4. Lusher, Adam (8 May 2018). "On this day in 1990 Jeremy Corbyn took on Margaret Thatcher over homelessness. Watch the moment here". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  5. Marsden, Shelley. "Waterloo's 'Cardboard City' featured in new short film". London SE1. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017.
  6. Nearly Invisible by Moyra Peralta, John Berger (Introduction). London: Art Books International. 2001. ISBN   0953154114.

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