Rural Gentrification Research Articles

Rural gentrification, touristification, and displacement: Analysing evidence from Mexico

The phenomenon of displacement has been at the centre of fierce debates in the literature on urban gentrification. On one side, a group of authors has argued that residential displacement is not always a key component of gentrification. On the other side, another group of researchers has defended the centrality of gentrification-induced displacement by explaining that it is embodied in different forms, including direct residential displacement, displacement pressures, exclusionary displacement, socio-cultural displacement, and commercial displacement. This paper builds on those debates in the urban gentrification literature by incorporating evidence from studies on rural gentrification. I summarize various case studies from the United Kingdom, North America, and Latin America, before turning to my own work on rural gentrification and touristification in the Mexican state of Morelos. A central argument is that direct residential displacement is not a predominant impact of rural gentrification, although it is closely connected to other forms of displacement, including exclusionary displacement, socio-cultural displacement, commercial displacement, and the displacement of other animal and plant species. The article concludes with a reflection on how research on rural gentrification contributes to the wider literature and discussion on gentrification and displacement by offering a more nuanced and complex vision of the link between these phenomena, which is important for the very definition of gentrification.

Ländliche Gentrifizierung. Aufwertung und Verdrängung jenseits der Großstädte – Vorschlag für ein Forschungsprogramm

Abstract. Not only since the Covid-19 pandemic, rural areas have received new attention as supposedly healthier and attractive places of residence. Regions previously characterized as shrinking are experiencing a highly selective influx of urban middle-class households and an increase in real estate and rental prices. These influxes and housing market developments raise the question of value increase and displacement. English-speaking, and especially British, human geographers have been studying the phenomenon of ”rural gentrification” for several decades. This article therefore aims to systematize this state of the art in terms of its conceptual framework and empirical objects. Based on this, the article explains possible connections for German research on rural gentrification and discusses starting points for future research.

"Inherited Gentrification": Changing Profiles of Gentrifiers via Inheritance, The Case of Bozcaada

PurposeRural areas have been through structural changes. The reorganisation of the rural economy from agriculture to services, in addition to improvements in transportation and infrastructures, migration patterns have started to reverse in some regions and hence to change the social composition of those regions’ rural areas. These changes and their implications have been largely debated in the rural gentrification literature, mainly by re-presenting cases from the Anglo-Saxon world. This paper contributes to the rural gentrification literature by presenting an empirical study on a socio-cultural and demographic change that, together with a local economic shift, is taking place in a location other than the Global North.Design/Methodology/Approach A qualitative case study examining the changes on the socio-spatial structure of a small Turkish island, Bozcaada, is presented through the following principal indicators of countryside gentrification: the change in the socio-economic composition of its citizens; the emphasis on cultural or national heritage and aesthetics; the emergence of new institutions leading to the closure of older ones; the diversification of products and services; and the change in properties’ value.FindingsThe first-generation newcomers were in line with the typical gentrifier’s profile of rural gentrification studies. Differently, the second-generation newcomers have shown diversity in terms of both motivation and socio-economic class. This study argues that the second-generation newcomers took part naturally in the gentrification process not because they inherited their parents’ properties, but also they play an important role in the significant socio-economic and cultural changes that are still taking place on the island.Research Limitations/Implications The fact that the research is based on a single case study is a limitation for its generalisation. However, the case examined provides a basis for future work that may validate its findings in different contexts.Originality/ValueThis paper contributes to the rural gentrification literature by introducing a new type of gentrification process, the ‘inherited gentrification’ with the identification of the second-generation gentrifiers of the island, who are the direct descendants of the first gentrifiers.

Living in the mountains: Mobilities, forms of residentiality and local identities of new inhabitants of a Swiss ski resort

The tendencies of the revalorisation of rural spaces and subsequent rural gentrification have been studied under the notion of “amenity migration” in different geographic contexts. The new dwellers keep their social networks in the cities and import their urban lifestyles to their new homes. This contribution focuses on the (re)negotiation of the local identities and “local knowledge” in Verbier, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Verbier grew from a small mountain hamlet to a pulsating resort for ski tourists over the last 50 years, and currently, new residents and people practicing multilocal residentiality reshape the local communities and representations of the locality.

Reinventing the attractiveness of borders in the French Alps: the challenge of access to lodging in a tourist context

This article seeks to understand how relatively isolated French Alpine valleys are influenced by economic (tourism, real estate market, etc.) and demographic (in settling inhabitants, gentrification, etc.) dynamics which can act in contradictory ways, both as development factors and as obstacles to the sustainability of the settlement of pleasure migrants. The objective of this article is to examine precisely the difficulties of access to housing and the different characteristics of the phenomenon of rural gentrification in the context of the high alpine valleys (profiles of new arrivals, co-presence of users). It is a question of understanding the complexity of the phenomenon through the analysis of the real estate market and of identifying the difficulties in terms of socio-spatial inequalities specific to these territories. This article proposes to analyze the impact of tourism activity according to the settlement of inhabitants and through the prism of the long-term attractiveness of the regions.

Re-placing displacement in gentrification studies: Temporality and multi-dimensionality in rural gentrification displacement

This paper explores how conceptions of displacement have been challenged and adapted as the study of gentrification has expanded to encompass a series of new contexts, including post-industrial conversions and new-build urban developments within and beyond the Global North. Attention is draw to Peter Marcuse's work on displacement, and how some of his conceptualisations of different forms of displacement have been significant in cross-contextual discussions of gentrification, although other aspects of his work, such as his discussions of the relationship between abandonment and displacement have received less attention. Drawing on work of Marcuse, the earlier work of George and Eustice Grier, and a series of more contemporary studies, the paper argues for the adoption of more multi-dimensional and temporally sensitive conceptualisations of gentrification displacement. It then seeks to illustrate the value of this conceptualisation in the study of a further context of gentrification, namely the study of rural gentrification. The paper highlights recent debates over the significance of displacement, and thereby gentrification, to the study of demographic change in rural areas of the UK. Attention is drawn to studies that have made reference to displacement impacts of rural gentrification, before drawing on research conducted by the authors in nine villages located in six districts of England. The paper highlights evidence of 'disinvestment displacement' occurring prior to the major onset of gentrification in these villages, through 'reinvestment displacement' and 'direct displacement' at the point of gentrification, 'chain displacement' occurring both before and after the point of property gentrification, and 'exclusionary displacement', and material and experiential 'displacement pressures', operating once gentrification had started to take hold in these locations. Displacement is further shown to involve not only housing but also employment conditions, access to services, and the symbolism, practices and affective relations that people have with human and more-than-human constituents of space.

World System satellites: Place-making and inequality during the 1990s rural migration rebound

This paper uses urban-rural migration data from the American rural migration “rebound” to contextualize inequality through a World Systems lens. By weighting migration flows according to origin cities’ level of global economic connectivity, the 50 most highly connected “satellite” counties are identified and compared to the 50 fastest growing counties and the 50 most urbanizing counties. Two findings emerge: First, noteworthy variation exists across satellite destinations. Moving beyond the literatures on exurbanization and rural gentrification, globally connected movers catalyzed diverse patterns of economic development. Second, despite the heterogeneity of counties identified, preliminary evidence of within county inequality is apparent, suggesting that inequality is associated with global city out-migration and is, thus, worthy of future research.

Creating land markets for rural revitalization: Land transfer, property rights and gentrification in China

Abstract The reform of collective land ownership in post-socialist contexts offers a useful window into how changes in property rights shape and structure the dynamics of territorial transformation. Focusing on China's rural revitalization campaign, this paper demonstrates how the state, as creator and regulator of land rights and property titles, facilitates landscape change by relaxing regulations over the lease of rural land and creating market institutions that favour land transfers to organized capital, in this case tourism companies and property developers. Far from being a spontaneous process of pure market forces and consumer demand, the state is actively harnessing market forces to achieve land use change and extend planning control over rural land. On the ground, the expanding presence of recreational capital has brought about the remaking of Chinese villages into leisure farms, holiday guesthouses and ecological parks geared towards touristic consumption. The paper calls for further attention to processes of exclusion and displacement that this transformation might engender. By exploring the dynamics of rural gentrification in a post-socialist context, this paper makes the case for the need to pay more attention to the comparative study of property rights and ownership regimes in rural gentrification research, and highlights how the intersection of property rights and state power reveals nuances that underscore the importance of going beyond Western conceptualizations of gentrification.

Seasonal gentrification and its (dis)contents: Exploring the temporalities of rural change in a Turkish small town

This paper joins in with the discussion on the temporalities of rural gentrification. Based on a case-study in the rural town of Ağlasun in South-West Anatolia, Turkey, we compare the influx of diverse groups of seasonal gentrifiers (second home users, students, tourists) and its material and experiential effects. Although actual material displacement was generally found to be limited, experiential displacement pressure did differ amongst the three groups. Our findings indicate the importance of the temporal dimensions of gentrification in understanding its differential effects. We identified four key dimensions which determined the effects and perceptions of seasonal gentrification in Ağlasun: The three groups did not only differ according to the periodicity of their migration, but also in their rhythms of everyday life. In addition, the particularity of our case study revealed the importance of two additional temporal dimensions: the impermanence of gentrifiers’ residence, as well as the historical sequence of events gentrification is embedded in. Both significantly influence the evaluation of gentrification’s costs and benefits by long-term residents.

B&Bs in Zhejiang Province, China: Developments and Issues

Based on second-hand data, this paper summarizes five factors for the rapid development of B&Bs in Zhejiang Province: qualified and diversified products and services, strong government support, sufficient financial resources, successful marketing, and strong urban demand for the B&B experience. After outlining the positive benefits of B&B development in the province, the paper highlights three key issues caused by government-directed development: potential ecological risks, social problems such as exclusion and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, and the disappearance of local knowledge and vernacular aesthetics. We suggest that in the future, the government should differentiate between types of B&B owners (investors), and we propose four concepts to broaden theories on the management and marketing of B&Bs: rural nostalgia and B&B development and marketing, assemblage and the hybrid space reconfigured by B&Bs, B&B and rural (tourism) gentrification, and the resilience of the communities within which B&Bs are located.

Idyllic Ruralities, Displacement and Changing Forms of Gentrification in Rural Hertfordshire, England

This paper considers the significance of representations of rurality and displacement in relation to the concept of rural gentrification. Studies of rural gentrification have often drawn upon notions of the rural idyll, but have often neglected to consider the presence, or not, of displacement. It has been argued that this lack of attention reflects an absence of displacement connected with middle class in-migration, particularly in early decades of counterurbanisation. This paper aims to examine these arguments drawing on the research publications and archived materials stemming from a study by Ray Pahl of four villages in the English county of Hertfordshire in the early 1960s, alongside material generated from a questionnaire survey conducted in three of these villages. The research demonstrates continuities in processes of gentrification and displacement between the two studies, as well as the emergence of new forms of gentrification and the operation of diverse forms of displacement.

Gentrifying the African Landscape: The Performance and Powers of for-Profit Conservation on Southern Kenya’s Conservancy Frontier

Across eastern and southern Africa, conservation landscapes increasingly extend far beyond the boundaries of government-owned protected areas. Several countries have now granted full legal recognition to various types of private or otherwise nonstate conservation arrangements, thereby often seeking to create novel opportunities for ostensibly “green” capital investments in various for-profit conservation enterprises. Following the adoption of the 2013 Wildlife Conservation and Management Act in Kenya, for instance, nonstate conservancies now encompass 6.36 million hectares—or 11 percent of the country’s land area—with at least a further 3 million hectares proposed or in the process of territorialization. Examining the consequences of this precipitous rise of conservancies in southern Kenya’s Maasai Mara region, we suggest that—in addition to significant potential for considerable profit margins to be realized by individual firms—these investments retain a number of other unique powers or capacities to transform prevailing varieties of environmental governance. In this case, these capacities manifest in two interrelated forms: first, in the dissemination of environmental crisis narratives that stigmatize pastoralist communities and thus drive down land rents or values and, second, in the recapitalization of conservation territories and the reconfiguration of prevailing land uses in ways that enable novel forms of rural gentrification via the capture of heightened or differential ground rents.

Land Use Changes and Their Perception in the Hinterland of Barranquilla, Colombian Caribbean

The coastal strip of the western peri-urban area of Barranquilla in the Atlántico Department (Colombia) is experiencing changes in human-environment interactions through infrastructure, residential, and tourism projects in a vulnerable landscape. In the hilly area, fragments of biodiverse tropical dry forest still exist in various states of conservation and degradation. To understand the interrelated social, economic, and ecological transformations in the area, we analyzed land use change on the local scale including the local community’s perception, because the local community is a key actor for sustainable land use. For the analysis of the interrelated social, economic, and ecological processes, we combined visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery, on-site field land use mapping, and a spatial statistical analysis of the distribution of land use classes with in-depth interviews and a participatory GIS workshop, thus benefitting from the complementary methodological strengths of these approaches. The case study is the rural community of El Morro, which exhibits the typical social, economic, and ecological changes of the coastal strip of the western peri-urban area of Barranquilla. The local community perceives a continuous loss of forest area, but observations from on-site field mapping cannot confirm this linear trend. We observed a gradual replacement of traditional land uses such as smallholder agriculture, charcoal production, and cattle breeding by services for tourism, gated community projects for urban dwellers, and infrastructure projects; these spatial developments have several characteristics of rural gentrification. We conclude that the drivers of environmental degradation have changed and the degradation increased. The development projects of external companies have been rejected by the local community and have induced environmental consciousness among community members. Thus, the local community has become an advocate for sustainable land use in the study area.

Otherness and closeness: residential tourism and rural gentrification processes

PurposeThis essay looks at how various forms of residential tourism or lifestyle migration, produced by people arriving from the cities and territories of the so-called Global North, have triggered complex processes of social-spatial modification in the landscapes and rural environments of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, a small Andean village of approximately 5,000 inhabitants in the southern part of the canton of Loja. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachResidential tourism in rural areas is a phenomenon that can be investigated by combining socio-economic studies with spatial analyses to define the specific characteristics of territories and environments affected by this phenomenon. In the case of Vilcabamba, the relationships and conflicts between imaginations, spaces, ecologies and desires have taken the form of a complex “implicit project”, a “palimpsest-project” intended as a set of territorial descriptions, interpretations and transformation actions triggered by a plot featuring migrant tourists, activists, eco-institutions, schools, artisans, intellectuals and artists. Though weakly connected to one another, these subjects nonetheless produce substantially coherent actions.FindingsTwo main hypotheses are given as: the first is that in particular rural contexts, such as the Andean area around Vilcabamba, dwelling practices and economies related to residential tourism have triggered processes through which these areas have progressively become peripheries to distant metropolitan territories and are reconfigured as sets of specialised places. The second hypothesis is that Vilcabamba and its rural surroundings can be viewed as a particular “contact zone” in which different types of residential tourists and local dwellers interact, together with different economies of tourism. In this case the reference is, on the one hand, to the logics and discourses of the so-called extractive tourism, a concept that describes the processes of “extracting” and converting local cultural characteristics, and “indigenousness”. To support these hypotheses, the result is the construction of a spatial representation of the ways in which specific practices of residential tourism are territorialised, and how they modify the meaning and functioning of rural spaces.Originality/valueWhat is new in the paper is the attempt to define a spatial representation of transnational spaces trying to highlight relationships between extractive tourism and remittance urbanism.

Rural geographies in the wake of non‐representational theories

AbstractNon‐representational theories have come to exert an influence on rural geographies. Geographers are engaging with rurality not just discursively, but as part of an assemblage of the embodied, practiced, and experienced elements of life. This paper reflects on the emergence of non‐representational theories and considers what non‐representational theories have brought to the study of rural geography to date. This recent work has considered diverse topics, from rural gentrification to an understanding of different demographic conceptualisations of rurality. The paper will consider further trajectories of where an embodied approach can take rural geographies, this includes assessing the challenges researchers wishing to engage with non‐representational theories may face, from methodological considerations to the debates surrounding the (re)presentation of research. The paper concludes by considering how rural geography can progress its engagement with non‐representational theories, through the expansion of empirical research informed by this theoretical approach.

Gentrificación rururbana en ciudades intermedias

Este artículo analiza y discute la naturaleza del proceso de gentrificación rururbana que se está desarrollando en la vereda La Florida en Villamaría (Caldas) y la vereda Clarete (Popayán, Cauca), Colombia. Los casos examinados permiten una revisión teórica-conceptual y normativa que contribuye a esclarecer, desde una perspectiva comparativa, los procesos de gentrificación que vienen ocurriendo en dos ciudades intermedias en Colombia. De un lado, se presenta un proceso residencial intensivo que revela el resultado de una especulación inmobiliaria (caso La Florida), y del otro, se documenta un proceso de transformación territorial que implica un reordenamiento de las relaciones entre campesinos y profesionales citadinos (caso Clarete). Conceptos como el de gentrificación rururbana, territorialidad, territorialización y ordenamiento territorial resultan pertinentes para explicar lo que sucede en la frontera urbano-rural. A nivel metodológico, nos apoyamos en la investigación documental y etnográfica territorial realizada a través de entrevistas abiertas y estructuradas, observaciones, recorridos topográficos, y compendios fotográficos.

A mild rural gentrification driven by tourism and second homes. Cases from Italy

A mild rural gentrification driven by tourism and second homes. Cases from Italy

When guesthouse meets home: The time-space of rural gentrification in southwest China

After decades of scholarship, gentrification as a concept has gone global, spreading to diverse geographic and socio-cultural contexts. Drawing upon discussion and debate about this concept, this paper seeks to explain how local villagers in Dali, in southwest China, have been engaged in bringing about ‘gentrification.’ I refer to gentrification in quotation marks because the process analyzed in this paper is not the same as the one typically written about in most of the gentrification literature, in the sense that some villagers are not displaced victims but ‘assistant gentrifiers’ actively pushing forward ‘gentrification’ in the countryside. This paper argues that, though the gentrification framework enables researchers to investigate the cause, outcome, and everyday character of a similar process in a non-western context, it has to be applied with caution, without overlooking contextual specificities and other processes that are mingled with gentrification. Besides noting the spatiality and temporality of the rural gentrification process, this paper expands the discussion of displacement by recognizing its variegated nature within a household and making it explicit that displacement is more than eviction from original housing and includes sociocultural impacts.

ルーラル・ジェントリフィケーションの分岐点:兵庫県篠山市の経験

ルーラル・ジェントリフィケーションの分岐点:兵庫県篠山市の経験

“How Much Does Property Cost Up There?”: Exploring the Relationship between Women, Sustainable Farming, and Rural Gentrification in the US

Using in-depth interviews with women engaged in sustainable farming in the western United States, this project explores an unanticipated finding: migration from an urban area to rural “Prairie County” was necessary for these farmers to secure farm land and sustain their farming operations. This article interrogates the role of migration in women’s access to farmland as both an economic and cultural phenomenon. My findings highlight the necessity of migration for women’s participation in sustainable farming and suggest that women’s success in sustainable farming may align with the processes of rural gentrification, by which cultural and economic in-migrants amplify their social privilege and transform the values and economy of rural communities. This project, then, situates gender as a key structure to understanding both the classed dynamics of sustainable agriculture and rural gentrification.