Gentrification pre-lecture video Which parts of our city could be gentrified? - Send in What is gentrification? · Ruth Glass 1964 o 'Gentrification' coined by Ruth Glass o Documenting struggles of London working class against increased house prices and displacement of urban poor o Elite class with money and social capital were buying houses, doing them up and selling them on - pushing out poorer people · Neil Smith (1987) o Shifted debate to argue that it is not only a social and demographic change but also a physical change in housing stock and an economic change in the land market - social change infuses different housing and home ownership so changes the operation of the market in that area o Combination of social, physical and economic change that distinguishes gentrification as a set of identifiable processes o Not just individual people doing up houses as leads to different structural issues · Tom Slater (2011/2017) o Because way world changed at turn of the century and how new neoliberalism affected cities operation with becoming more corporate o Gentrification is less about individuals interactions with changes in the environment and more is a strategy of urban development o Rent gap theory - largest gap between what land is worth and what it could be worth if invested into o Urban elites are usually catered for during gentrification so get to make decisions on location and stretch of rent gap - can negatively impact poorer people Example: Tompkins square Park, New York City · Built in 1830s on some marsh land · Was key site of protest and riots in 1863 · In 1960s, New York had lots of criminals, drug dealers ... gathering in park as not a lot of surveillance . New York became a fashionable place to be so there was a deliberate attempt to cater to high business individuals · Met with riots as curfews were imposed to displace homeless . As a result its now an enclosed area and hosts many events but cam about through a process of dispossession · Nearby community gardens built in vacant lots to give jobs to homeless and unskilled but now are being looked at to redevelop new buildings and benefit the wealthy by increasing rent gap Gentrification is hotly contested as always in the interests of capital Some view gentrification as inevitable upon the path of development Who are the gentrifiers ?: • Middle classes
• Artists · Property Developers · Governments Class · Class is the bedrock of gentrification as middle class commodore land from poor · Middle classes are the people who gentrify the area · White flight of post-war period saw the suburbanisation of cities particularly in US which disinvested the areas producing lower income minority groups in inner cities · Globalisation saw people coming back into the city with more mobile capital making the city more attractive for work and excitement of things to do with changing consumption patterns and availability of debt · Young and