Globalisation has significantly altered the scale at which social structures are organised and experienced. The erosion of spatial boundaries has liberated social experience from the constraints of the local. While globalisation is often portrayed as heralding a single global culture and community, in reality globalisation is heralding the emergence of multiple global communities. The gentrifying class constitutes one such emergent global community. Premised upon notions of affluence and prestige, gentrification constitutes a local socio-spatial strategy of identity construction that is increasingly commodified. This commodification erodes the symbolic significance of local gentrification processes. In order to maintain a distinctive identity, numerous gentrifiers are projecting their identity from the scale of the local onto the scale of the global. In doing so, these individuals actively position themselves as a global elite community.

The city of Newcastle is a complex and changing landscape. Once regarded as Australia's 'problem city', Newcastle's identity is being significantly transformed. This identity transformation draws significantly upon the emergence of more cosmopolitan landscapes within inner Newcastle associated with the gentrification of these areas. The discourse of gentrification is inherently post-industrial, providing a cleaner and more positive identity as Newcastle seeks to erase the stigma of its' industrial heritage. However, as landscapes are the amalgam of multiple identities, Newcastle's industrial heritage periodically re-emerges to problematise the city's newly adopted cosmopolitan identity.

No abstract

No abstract

Port Adelaide, South Australia has been stigmatised as ‘Port Misery’ for over one hundred and fifty years. The origins of this stigmatised discourse can be traced prior to actual colonisation, having their genesis in wide political debates. This reflects the complex and contested nature of landscape, revealing that ‘Port Misery’ constitutes a powerful meta‐narrative that has been projected onto Port Adelaide by powerful and often external actors. This stigmatising discourse may lie dormant for prolonged periods of time, only to be remobilised to serve specific political, social and economic objectives. Recently, the ‘Port Misery’ discourse has been remobilised to justify the redevelopment of Port Adelaide from an industrial to a post‐industrial landscape.