Not All Empty Homes Are Empty: An Ethnography of Emptiness in West London

Empty homes in London are often imagined as ghostly absences: unlit windows that puncture the image of a city full of life. Yet these absences are not always bleak. Some empty houses are beautiful, meticulously maintained, even adorned with Christmas lights in December. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic research in Kensington and Chelsea, this talk explores the many meanings of emptiness across two sites: an emptying council flat awaiting demolition, and a luxury square dominated by second homes.

The research reveals that emptiness is neither static nor uniform, but takes multiple forms with distinct social consequences and moral evaluations. Empty homes are arranged along moral hierarchies—shaped by rhythms of occupancy, the familiarity of their residents, and the perceived legitimacy of their absence. While erratic and unpredictable vacancies are often problematised, seasonal patterns of absence can be normalised.

By situating emptiness within histories of aristocratic landownership, contemporary forms of financialisation, and narratives of “community” evoked through nostalgia and loss, the talk asks why certain absences trouble us while others pass unnoticed. In doing so, it sheds light on the social life of vacancy and the uneasy role of emptiness in the making of urban belonging.


Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Michaelmas Term 2025

Fridays, 12pm-1.30pm (Weeks 1-8)

In person at the Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre (entry via Robinson Close).

Convened by Paul Basu and Elizabeth Hallam.