Teaching and Learning Guide for: Gentrification: What It Is, Why It Is, and What Can Be Done About It

Author’s Introduction Gentrification is an important component of urban development, and essential to any proper understanding of uneven development. It is also a highly contested concept. It has what can be called a ‘typical’ pattern, with a myriad of variations. These variations are so extensive that some scholars argue that gentrification is a ‘chaotic concept’, that is, a concept so broad as to lose its analytical coherency. Others counter that the logic of gentrification has become so generalised in the 21st century that it should be seen as no less than a fundamental state and market‐driven ‘class remake’ of the city. This Teaching and Learning Guide helps to conceptualise gentrification as a continuum which accommodates all the variations. Understanding gentrification in this way enables an intellectual approach that considers the possibilities for progressive policy responses to its inequitable effects. Author Recommends Smith, Neil (1979). Toward a theory of gentrification: a back to the city movement by capital, not people, Journal of the American Planners Association 45, pp. 538–548. This seminal paper applies a political‐economic analysis to the process of gentrification, arguing that it is an inherent component of capitalist development. It set the ground for many subsequent debates, and continues to be as relevant now as it was then. Smith’s theory of the rent gap – possibly the single most significant contribution to understanding gentrification – is detailed in this paper. Rose, Damaris (1984). Rethinking gentrification: beyond the uneven development of marxist urban theory. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 1, pp. 47–74. Rose challenges the political‐economy analysis as the only explanation for gentrification. She argues that it is a result also of restructured labour markets and changing lifestyles that are producing different kinds of households (e.g. single parent and/or female‐headed) with good reason for choosing to live in ‘gentrified’ areas. This is the first paper to raise the notion of gentrification as a ‘chaotic concept’. Ley, David (1994). Gentrification and the politics of the new middle class. Environment and Planning D , Society and Space 12, pp. 53–74. This paper discusses the rise of a ‘new middle class’ in Canada with a left‐liberal politics, which Ley argues is driving gentrification at least in this part of the world. Ley is a proponent of the argument that gentrification is a cultural movement shaped by people’s preferences for an inner‐city, ‘gentrified’ lifestyle. Lees, Loretta (1994). Rethinking gentrification: beyond the positions of economics or culture. Progress in Human Geography 18 (2), pp. 137–150. This important paper spells out the competing economic and cultural explanations for gentrification and draws together a large literature that essentially points to both explanations having a role to play. Hackworth, Jason and Smith, Neil (2001). The Changing State of Gentrification, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 94 (4), pp. 464–477. Another seminal work that introduces a model of waves of gentrification that account for its changing patterns over time. Atkinson, Rowland and Bridge, Gary (2005). Gentrification in a global context: the new urban colonialism . London: Routledge. This whole book is a collection of stories about gentrification from all over the world. The introduction is a very good summary of the debates up to 2005. Slater, Tom (2006). The eviction of critical perspectives from gentrification research, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (4), pp. 737–757. This is a provocative piece that argues that gentrification research has itself become gentrified, in that scholars are no longer as interested in documenting the inequitable effects of gentrification, especially displacement, as they once were. Slater argues that the focus has swung too much in favour of the interests and motivations of the gentrifiers, at the expense of those who suffer from the process. Volume 32, issue no. 1 of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (2008) carries an interesting collection of responses to Slater’s piece. Lees, Loretta and Ley, David (2008). Introduction to special issue on gentrification and public policy. Urban Studies , 45 (12), pp. 2379–2384. With the argument over cultural or economic explanations having worn itself out (or been resolved, depending on your point of view!) the attention of scholars is turning to what to do about gentrification. This special issue edited by Lees and Ley draws together a selection of papers on the relationship of policy to gentrification: do state policies always facilitate gentrification or can they work to mitigate its negative effects? Porter, Libby and Shaw, Kate (2009), Whose Urban Renaissance? An international comparison of urban regeneration strategies . London: Routledge. This book is a collection of stories of urban regeneration strategies on the ground – from state and market strategies that deliberately bring about gentrification to government interventions designed to avoid it or at least protect vulnerable residents. The introduction and conclusion develop the notion of gentrification as being on a continuum of social and economic geographic change based on patterns of disinvestment and reinvestment. Lees, Loretta, Slater, Tom and Wyly, Elvin (2008). Gentrification . London: Routledge. This is the most comprehensive textbook on gentrification in existence. It covers every possible aspect of gentrification and all the relevant debates, and is an excellent resource for all students of gentrification. Online Materials http://members.lycos.co.uk/gentrification/ Gentrification Web, designed by Tom Slater: ‘Either disinvestment and decay or gentrification and displacement is a false choice for low‐income communities’. http://www.theregoestheneighbourhood.org/ There Goes the Neighbourhood is an exhibition, residency, discussion and publishing project. The central element of this project is an exploration of the politics of urban space, with a focus on Redfern, Sydney. The project examines the complex life of cities and how the phenomenon of gentrification is altering the relationship between democracy and demography around the world. Although urban change itself is not always

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