Acerca de una gentrificación "planetaria", políticamente útil

Abstract

There is a global trend towards the “rediscovery” of urban centers for capital reproduction purposes. Such an exercise involves high levels of private investment for the development of new spaces, services and dwellings aimed at middle and higher-income segments, thus suggesting a close relationship with the financial phase of urban capitalism. In this context, gentrification theory is currently regarded either as an explanation that allows the development of the field of comparative research, based on generic definitions about the process, or through adopting a post-colonial ‘provincial’ approach that rejects the very concept of gentrification as a structural narrative that comes from the Global North inapplicable to the Global South. This paper suggests the need to develop an episteme intended to separate factual aspects and explore some key spatial, political, economic and social elements associated with the gentrification phenomenon. Such an exercise is based on the analysis of two cities, Santiago and Mexico City, as well as from an updated theoretical review, referring to other world cities. It is concluded that gentrification processes at planetary level seem to converge and share the same characteristics within a context marked by the greater mobility and aggressiveness of political-financial power.