Zurich's Langstrasse quarter in the context of gentrification and urban housing market processes

Abstract

The paper analyses the development of the Langstrasse quarter - a formerly rundown area next to Zurich’s Central Business District - in relation to urban gentrification and displacement. The results demonstrate that there has been an upwards revaluation of the Langstrasse quarter and a distinct change in its population characteristics over the period under study from 1993 to 2007. The presence of foreign communities, which was one of the quarter’s defining features, has declined and the age structure of residents has changed. However, there is no evidence of large-scale gentrification with substantial upgrading of properties or social structure. Presently, the development of the quarter shows more insular gentrification that is restricted to a number of separate areas or buildings. Although not yet widespread, the impact of renovation and of building work in particular on the type of resident and the housing stock structure is far more pronounced in this quarter than in the city as a whole. An analysis of the relationship between social structure and building activity indicates that renovation and new-build have a different role in the context of gentrification and displacement. The absence of any swift and large-scale gentrification process in the quarter indicates that the Swiss housing market and Swiss tenants’ rights – as well as the local ownership structure and access to investment loans – have an important role to play.