Gentrification Studies Research Articles

Golden Ghettos: Gated Communities and Class Residential Segregation in Montevideo, Uruguay

In this paper, I examine the local expression of a global phenomenon: gated communities in Montevideo, Uruguay. Focusing on the residents' perspective, I investigate microlevel processes of class segregation. I analyze residential and class trajectories, motivations for moving, and consequences of the move. I rely on interviews with residents, developers, architects, and real-estate agents; advertisements; and ethnographic field notes. A major finding is that gated communities do not always increase social and residential segregation. In Montevideo, families in these neighborhoods were already segregated from lower classes. Residents experienced changes in family and community life, but those changes rarely corresponded to changes in their class segregation. This challenges the central focus of the literature on gated communities: a presumed effect on increased class segregation regardless of the context. Another major finding is that residents moved to new neighborhoods to secure class reproduction and gain control over their immediate environment, something that they saw the open city was threatening. Surprisingly, these motivations are very similar to those reported in studies of gentrification. Rather than calling for yet another stretching of the meaning of gentrification, based on these similarities I argue that comparative urban research would profit from a more acute focus on underlying social processes rather than on manifest physical forms.

The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City

Displacement has been at the centre of heated analytical and political debates over gentrification and urban change for almost 40 years. A new generation of quantitative research has provided new evidence of the limited (and sometimes counter-intuitive) extent of displacement, supporting broader theoretical and political arguments favouring mixed-income redevelopment and other forms of gentrification. This paper offers a critical challenge to this interpretation, drawing on evidence from a mixed-methods study of gentrification and displacement in New York City. Quantitative analysis of the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey indicates that displacement is a limited yet crucial indicator of the deepening class polarisation of urban housing markets; moreover, the main buffers against gentrification-induced displacement of the poor (public housing and rent regulation) are precisely those kinds of market interventions that are being challenged by advocates of gentrification and dismantled by policy-makers. Qualitative analysis based on interviews with community organisers and residents documents the continued political salience of displacement and reveals an increasingly sophisticated and creative array of methods used to resist displacement in a policy climate emphasising selective deregulation and market-oriented social policy.

‘Lesbian migrants in the gentrified valley’ and ‘other’ geographies of rural gentrification

This paper explores the migration and cultural consumption practices of lesbian households within processes of rural change. Taking forward Phillips’ (2004. Progress in Human Geography 28, 5–30) discussion of neglected geographies of rural gentrification, and building upon Halfacree's (2001. International Journal of Population Geography 7, 395–411) critique of dominant conceptualisations of rural in-migrants, the paper presents empirical findings from a qualitative study of lesbian households in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. This follows up an earlier study of rural gentrification (Smith and Phillips, 2001. Journal of Rural Studies 19, 457–469). Lesbian households are shown to be a significant group that socially and culturally (re)produce distinct constructions of rurality, and act as gentrifiers via their migration, residential, and consumption practices. Many parallels to the migration processes of non-lesbian gentrifiers in Hebden Bridge are revealed, with the alternative cultural structures of Hebden Bridge being a key factor. We therefore argue that lesbian households should not be ‘othered’ within discourses of rural gentrification. The discussion emphasises the value of focussing upon neglected socio-cultural groups in robust ways, in order to shed light on the wider lifestyles and experiences of diverse rural populations, and to deepen understandings of other geographies of rural gentrification.

Differential productions of rural gentrification: illustrations from North and South Norfolk

This paper focuses attention on the making of space for rural gentrification, both discursively and materially. The paper emphasises the differential constructions of gentrification within urban and rural studies. Connections are drawn between production-side theories of gentrification, notions of the ‘post-productivist countryside’ and studies that have related rural demographic change and gentrification with planning and property relations. Drawing on these three sets of ideas, the paper explores gentrification in rural Norfolk. It is argued that the contemporary geography of rural gentrification may in part reflect historic structures of landownership as well as settlement classifications associated with the land-use planning system. Country and District level analysis is followed up by detailed study of gentrification of two villages in Norfolk, which highlights how gentrified rural spaces may be produced in rather different way and through different agencies, and as a result takes different forms.

Municipally managed gentrification in South Parkdale, Toronto

Earlier studies of Canadian inner‐city gentrification, especially in Toronto, project an image of the process as being emancipatory: a middle‐class reaction to the oppressive conformity of suburbia, modernist planning and market principles. This paper, a case study of gentrification in South Parkdale, Toronto, questions this image by illustrating the role of local context in theory and policy and the consequences of gentrification for vulnerable inner‐city populations. Once a desirable residential neighbourhood, South Parkdale experienced disinvestment following the construction of the Gardiner Expressway in the 1960s and also experienced further problems in the 1970s and 1980s following the deinstitution‐alisation of psychiatric patients from adjacent hospitals. Discharged patients suffered from a shortage of affordable housing options, and many ended up in substandard rooming houses and bachelorettes, of which South Parkdale has a disproportionate share in Toronto. The neighbourhood's sporadic gentrification since the mid‐1980s has intensified in recent years, as the City of Toronto is regularising and licensing the neighbourhood's low‐income housing—a major concern for tenants who fear that landlords will use recent provincial legislation on tenancy to attract wealthier residents into their improved buildings. This paper examines this situation with qualitative evidence and argues that gentrification in South Parkdale, driven and managed by neoliberal policy, is far from an emancipatory process and argues for an interpretation of gentrification that looks beyond the experiences of the middle classes.

Other geographies of gentrification

This paper considers recent pleas for a ‘geography of gentrification’, arguing that they have been very urban in focus and often enact what, following Soja (1996), might be described as ‘firstspace epistemology’. The paper identifies traces of other, secondspace and thirdspace geographies of gentrification. It is argued that these geographies may not be fully commensurable with each other but that they each may have some commensurability with rural as well as the urban spatialities. The paper goes on to explore these arguments in relation to studies of gentrification of the British countryside, focusing particularly on gentrification in rural Norfolk.

The production, symbolization and socialization of gentrification: impressions from two Berkshire villages

Gentrification has long been the subject of considerable interest and debate amongst geographers. A range of differing ontological and epistemological conceptions of gentrification have been advanced, with attempts often being made to legislate between them to establish some definitive categorizations of gentrification. The majority of gentrification studies are also highly urbanized: gentrification is seen explicitly or implicitly as a phenomenon that occurs in urban space. This paper questions both the legislative and urban foci of gentrification studies, by outlining an interpretative study of material, social and symbolic dimensions of gentrification within two villages in rural Berkshire.

Widespread and diverse neighborhood gentrification in Jerusalem

Abstract Gentrification in Jerusalem is much more complex than is often perceived or observed. It is not just an inner city process and has a substantial representation in the outer areas of the city, too. In the inner city gentrification was made possible by the growing willingness to upgrade old houses, formerly looked down upon by upwardly mobile individuals. In the outer areas gentrification was as result of a growing suburbanization of the Jewish middle-classes. Geopolitical circumstances played a substantial role in the spatial pattern of gentrification, especially along the former cease-fire line that has divided Jerusalem between 1949 and 1967. Once that line did not exist functionally gentrification was in motion, as a spontaneous process or an institutional one. What emerges from the study of gentrification is its diverse nature. Each particular neighborhood has its specific circumstances in terms of its physical layout, geopolitical setting and social composition, which in turn have an impact on the nature of gentrification.

The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City

What factors lay behind the rehabilitation of central city districts across the world? Set against the contexts of international transformations in a post-industrial postmodern society, this book examines the creation and self-creation of a new middle class of professional and managerial workers associated with the process of gentrification. These are amongst the privileged members in the growing polarisation of urban society. The book examines their impact on central housing markets, retailing and leisure spaces in the inner city. Taking as its focus six large canadian cities, the author identifies a distinctive cultural new class of urbane social and cultural professionals inspired in part by the critical youth movements of the 1960s for whom old inner city neighbourhoods served as oppositional sites to assail the boureois suburbs. The study looks at their close links with reform movements, neighbourhood activism and a welfare state that often provided their employment, in a progressive aesthetisation of central city spaces since the 1980s. The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City offers the first detailed and comparitive study of gentrification which locates the phenomenon in broader historical and theoretical contexts.

The new middle class and the remaking of the central city

What factors lay behind the rehabilitation of central city districts across the world? Set against the contexts of international transformations in a post-industrial postmodern society, this book examines the creation and self-creation of a new middle class of professional and managerial workers associated with the process of gentrification. These are amongst the privileged members in the growing polarisation of urban society. The book examines their impact on central housing markets, retailing and leisure spaces in the inner city. Taking as its focus six large canadian cities, the author identifies a distinctive cultural new class of urbane social and cultural professionals inspired in part by the critical youth movements of the 1960s for whom old inner city neighbourhoods served as oppositional sites to assail the boureois suburbs. The study looks at their close links with reform movements, neighbourhood activism and a welfare state that often provided their employment, in a progressive aesthetisation of central city spaces since the 1980s. The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City offers the first detailed and comparitive study of gentrification which locates the phenomenon in broader historical and theoretical contexts.

A New Look at Gentrification: 1. Gentrification and Domestic Technologies

In this paper I take issue with what I identify as a basic consensus in gentrification studies. I argue that gentrification studies have been conducted within a context framed by two basic models of urban development, namely the Burgess concentric-zone model and the Alonso bid-rent model. These two models lie at the heart of what are more usually seen as the parameters of the gentrification debate, namely the ‘supply-side’ rent-gap account of gentrification offered by Neil Smith and his followers and the ‘demand-side’ consumption-oriented explanations offered by David Ley and his followers. Both sets of explanations are, however, fatally compromised by seeking to answer the question ‘why does gentrification occur?’ before answering the question ‘how does gentrification occur?’. Starting with the question ‘how?’, rather than ‘why?’, draws attention to the hitherto almost completely neglected role of domestic technologies in permitting gentrification to occur, thereby helping break the theoretical logjam in which the gentrification debate currently finds itself.

Housing improvement and gentrification; A case study in Arnhem, the Netherlands

Gentrification can be defined from an aggregate and an individual perspective: respectively, the level of the neighbourhood and the level of the household or the dwelling. At the aggregate level, gentrification is defined as a simultaneous upward shift of the socio-economic status of the inhabitants of a neighbourhood and the physical improvement of its built environment (Lee and Mergenhagen, 1984). The rise in socio-economic status may result from various processes. It may entail the inflow of new inhabitants with higher levels of income and education than previous residents, or a change in the socio-economic status of current households. At the individual level, gentrification entails the improvement of a dwelling by a household with a higher social status than the occupants in its unimproved state. According to the international literature, this upward shift of a neighbourhood is not supposed to result from deliberate government policy; private investment is the litmus test. Dutch gentrification research, however, tends to emphasize the role of public policy in the process (e.g., Cortie et al., 1982). Yet, a review of Dutch gentrification studies shows the role of the public sector to be an article of faith. It is rarely specified at the individual level, for example as subsidizes on the renovation of dwellings. Aggregate data on subsidies and the improvement of the socio-ecouomic status and the housing quality of neighbourhoods, however, neither clarify how the gentrification of an area proceeds nor specify the role of the government in this neighbourhood process. To trace the trajectory of gentrification, it must be determined at the individual level whether or not the occupants of renovated and rebuilt dwellings have a higher socio-economic status than households in unimproved dwellings. In addition, it should be clarified whether the owners of improved dwellings have received subsidies. If so, there would be a clear case for arguing that the area was gentrified. This would substantiate the claim that the public sector had played a pro-active role through the aubsidies that had been made available. However, longitudinal data on housing improvement, increased socio-economic

The Space for Class? On Class Analysis in the Study of Gentrification

ion (mode of production; social formation; conjuncture). Three critical moments of the realization of class relations are identified at the three levels of abstraction: between speculator-developers and all inner-urban residents as gentrification is 'sanctioned' as a form of revalorization; petit-bourgeois entrepreneurial and rentier activity within the social formation; and, exceptionally, class action between middle-class and working-class residents. A full appreciation of the multiple determinations of class on gentrification and the effect of residence on class constitution must incorporate labour-market and workplace relations as well as an expanded view of residence to encompass the whole metropolitan area. The complex and contradictory realizations of the class relation posited by this method of abstraction reveal a robustness and subtlety which make it a more a promising basis than recent non-essentialist contributions for the retheorization of class and space.ion: between speculator-developers and all inner-urban residents as gentrification is 'sanctioned' as a form of revalorization; petit-bourgeois entrepreneurial and rentier activity within the social formation; and, exceptionally, class action between middle-class and working-class residents. A full appreciation of the multiple determinations of class on gentrification and the effect of residence on class constitution must incorporate labour-market and workplace relations as well as an expanded view of residence to encompass the whole metropolitan area. The complex and contradictory realizations of the class relation posited by this method of abstraction reveal a robustness and subtlety which make it a more a promising basis than recent non-essentialist contributions for the retheorization of class and space. key words class analysis gentrification levels of abstraction latent structuration residence Lecturer, School for Advanced Urban Studies, Rodney Lodge, Grange Road, Bristol BS8 4EA revised manuscript received 30 June 1994

Gentrification, Class, and Gender: Some Comments on Wardens ‘Gentrification as Consumption’

In this paper Warde's argument that gentrification is primarily an issue of gender is questioned. It is argued that class and gender are both important in understanding gentrification. Contra Warde, it is argued that gentrification is likely to be found in the distinctive locational patterns of particular fractions of the middle class, Evidence from a recent study of gentrification in northeast London suggests that gentrifiers are drawn disproportionately from the second-generation middle-class and that it is within this context that the role played by women in the gentrification process needs to be understood.

Gentrification

This paper seeks to review the gentrification studies in the Western countries, and obtain implications for Japanese cities.The article begins with a review of the literature concerned with social effects of gentrification. In the capitalist countries, at the outset, many people expect that gentrification is caused by private ecnomy. However the effects of gentrification are not so expected for the several reasons. One reason is that most of inmovers to the gentrified neighborhoods are not part of a ‘back to the city movement’, but ‘staying in the city’. The other is that gentrifiers revitalizing abandoned areas are limited in number. On the contrary, it causes the displacement of the socioeconomically weak. Most of them are low income, elderly and minority. They feel the sting of the displacement caused by urban revitalization. Furthermore it results in producing a lot of homeless people.The third chapter treats with five theoretical issues, which are institutions, stage models, rent-gap theory, the new middle class, and marginal gentrifiers. According to the institutionalist approach, central and local government, estate agents, and building societies, are the inducers of gentrification. The stage model explains the gentrification process positively by inmovers' attitude to accept risks in the deteriorated areas. Rent-gap theory explains gentrification structurally by the movement of capital, back to the inner city. The new middle class is on the rise due to industrial restructuring.They prefer to live near the city center, so they cause gentrification. They prefer not only historical architecture, but also modern amenities. Inmovers to the gentrified neighborhoods, are not only the new middle class. There is also the formation of reproducing marginal gentrifiers. Marginal gentrifiers come to live in the inner city because of alternative life-styles. Many researchers agree that no approach cannot explain the phenomenon alone, and some of them seek to integrate several approaches.In section four I argue the applicability of researches on social effects and theoretical approaches in Western countries for Japanese cases. First I show two bases for the occurrence of gentrification in Japanese cities. One is the recent trend of upgrading living spaces. Most Japanese houses are built of wood, so they become obsolete without maintenance. It is easy to scrap obsolete houses and renovate new ones. Recently there are many cases of rehabilitating modern Western-style buildings and reforming the living layout of condominiums. The other is the restructuring of the inner city. In the 1970s most central cities lost affluent people. Many heavy industries scattered from metropolitan regions to nonmetropolitan areas. Although the inner city area in the central cities lost population, it also provides opportunities to increase population again. Actually recurrence of population appeared in some of those large cities during the late 1980s. I argue that three primary factors may cause gentrification in Japanese cities. The first one is industrial restructuring. Industrial restructuring produces new professionals. They may be potential gentrifiers. The second one is suburbanization. Expanding urban regions make a long commute to the office in the central city. So many people prefer to live not so far from the office. The third one is the supply of condominiums. Many people invested in them during the late 1980s, because of lower interest rates. Most of them located in the inner city and induce inmovers.Second, I discuss future directions for research on gentrification in Japanese cities. There may be three main issues. The first one is resettlement in the inner city. Municipal officials of most large central cities are working to prevent the population from decreasing.

Symbols of Status in Urban Neighborhoods

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that contemporary observers would differentiate accurately among nineteenth-century houses built by and for members of different socioeconomic groups. Photographs were selected from Streetcar Suburbs, Warner's (1978) book about the growth of Boston between 1870 and 1900 to exemplify the houses he identified from historical records as the homes of the upper-middle, middle-middle, and lowermiddle classes. One group of subjects judged the houses' appearance and comfort, a second group judged the residents' occupations, and a third judged the residents' traits. Analyses of their judgments revealed that in each case perceptions of the three categories of houses and their residents were distinctive and consistent with the socioeconomic status of the houses' original owners. These findings support the conclusion that housing forms include architectural features that serve as symbols of residents' status. The possible implications for urban history, environmental psychology, and the study of gentrification are discussed.

THE INTERDEPENDENCE AMONG GENTRIFYING NEIGHBORHOODS: CENTRAL DENVER SINCE 1970

Gentrification is an intrinsic dimension of cyclical change in large cities. Stage theories define the process to be autonomous and sequentially predetermined. Yet the phenomenon is seldom confined to just one or two neighborhoods in single cities, and significant interactions occur among those experiencing parallel gentrification during any episode of urban economic recovery. An examination of neighborhoods having moderate or high potential for gentrification in Denver since the early 1970s reveals two aspects of interdependence One entails spillovers arising from the competition for gentrifiers and reinvestment capital, and the transfer of expectations as well as strategies for development and resistance. Another stems from the overall scale of residential reinvestment within the city and the resulting improvement in public services, lessening of risk, and reduction in unit production costs of larger scale rehabilitators. It is therefore preferable to reposition the study of gentrification within the en...

Demographic Research on Gentrlfication and Displacement

Generally, empirical studies of gentrification have concurred on the socioeconomic and racial characteristics of gentrifier households. There is less research and therefore, less uniformity, in findings about the characteristics of displaced households. Empirical research leans strongly on the conclusion that by national and regional norms, displacement is a relatively infrequent occurence; there is more agreement that its incidence is higher in a few central cities. Studies of the net effects of gentrification on central cities during the late 1960s and early 1970s suggest that there was relatively little impact on population, income and racial, and secioeconomic succession patterns. The existing state of knowledge about gentrification and displacement begs further research on the mobility patterns of migrants both to and from gentrifying neighborhoods. It also implies that the central housing policy issue is not the amount or effects of gentrification-induced reinvestment but rather, the impact of all forms of disinvestment and reinvestment on the total supply of lowand moderate-income housing in metropolitan areas and central cities.

Social Change in London: A Study of Gentrification

Social Change in London: A Study of Gentrification

Social Change in London: A Study of Gentrification

(1980). Social Change in London: A Study of Gentrification. The London Journal: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 51-66.