RC21 CONFERENCE 2013
Resourceful cities
Berlin (Germany), 29-31 August 2013
Humboldt-University Berlin, Institute for Social Science, Dept. for Urban and Regional Sociology
Living with gentrification
Recent examples of gentrification research underlined the need to explore linkages between gentrification and urban regeneration. Scholars highlighted the need to look at the processes of displacement and the responses of non-gentrifying groups, instead of studying only the experience of gentrifiers (‘people like us’) (Slater 2006; Watt 2007). This session addresses local responses to gentrification with a particular focus on non-gentrifying groups and their experiences of living in, or being displaced from, a gentrifying neighbourhood. Unlike the mainstream examples, in some cities the arrival of gentrifiers in the neighbourhood does not lead to homogeneity. Gentrification generates a period in which displacement becomes a process. During this process, gentrifiers and the non-gentrifiers become neighbours. This session invites papers that focus on the interactions (symbolic and social boundaries, conflicts) between different social groups in gentrification. Amongst the questions that the session raises are:
How do the interactions between different groups take place, and what are the possible conflicts within gentrifying neighbourhoods (claiming spaces, sanitizing them, etc.)?
What are the inclusionary and exclusionary practices, and what are their implications on urban policies?
To what extent do socio-economic or symbolic borders limit interactions between different groups and lead to spatial clustering?
What are the individual or collective strategies against increasing rent and gradually decreasing affordable housing in gentrifying neighbourhoods?
Session Organizers
Dr. Ebru Soytemel, Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN, United Kingdom, T: +44 (0)1865 288721, E: ebru.soytemel@insis.ox.ac.uk
Dr. Besime Sen, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Urban and Regional Planning Department, Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi No.24, Fındıklı 34427 Istanbul, Turkey, T: 009(0)2122521600, E: besimesen@yahoo.com
« back
