Gentrification studies and cultural colonialism: Discussing connections between historic city centers of Mexico and Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the last 2 decades, gentrification has emerged in Spanish-speaking urban studies as a powerful and controversial concept that revitalizes the debate on urbanization processes. However, some scholars have opposed gentrification as an alien notion and a spurious generalization from the experience of cities in the Global North, useless for urban studies in the Global South. In this context, the aim of the article is to defend current scientific work on gentrification that bridges diverse urban geographies. We also challenge a rigid and reductionist division of the urban world into a few homogeneous regions by engaging with current debates on comparative studies. We propose a dialogue between the Mexican and Spanish cases of gentrification, connecting these processes in distant urban regions. The main finding is that, despite enormous contextual differences, there is common ground for gentrification studies in Mexico and Spain in the recent historical processes of urban renewal of historic centers for touristic exploitation.