Globalizing the Sociology of Gentrification

Abstract

How can the gentrification scholarship of US urban sociologists be enhanced by expanding beyond the confines of the Global North to include empirical and theoretical analyses of Southern gentrifications? This article engages the debate around the utility of the gentrification concept outside of postindustrial Northern cities. It argues that, in contrast to geographers and other interdisciplinary urbanists, many US–based sociologists have unduly overlooked or minimized two aspects of gentrification that may be more clearly observed in the Global South: the roles of local political–economic forces and the state. This article also notes what the discipline of sociology can add to apt explorations of gentrification in the Global South. It marries the oft–disparate discourses of sociologists of gentrification primarily in North America and Western Europe with geographers and other urbanists conducting gentrification research in the Global South in order to globalize the sociology of gentrification.

Evictions: Reconceptualizing Housing Insecurity from the Global South

“…However, many of the themes discussed in the South African and South Asian literature can also be found in studies on Latin America. See Valle (2021) for a more extensive discussion of displacement in Latin American cities. 2.…”

Can economic development policy trigger gentrification? Assessing and anatomising the mechanisms of state-led gentrification

“…Second, points (a) and (b) are extracted from Clark’ (2005) definition and have been adopted by other recent papers (e.g. Liu et al, 2019; Valle, 2020). Nonetheless, this broad definition has limits in the contextual landscape we studied.…”

“…As the concept of gentrification travels globally (Maloutas, 2018; Valle, 2020), this phenomenon, understood as a change in the population of land-users such that new users are of a higher socioeconomic status than the previous ones (Furman Center, 2015; Liu et al, 2019), has attracted widespread attention. The concept of gentrification is travelling at the same pace that some political economies and forms of urbanism are moving across the world (Betancur, 2014; Peck et al, 2009; Peck and Theodore, 2015; Smith, 2002).…”

“…Empirical studies on gentrification with significant samples and large-scale field survey, which are time-consuming and labour-intensive, are scarce, particularly for the Global South and East (Janoschka et al, 2014; Liu, 2019; Mendoza, 2016). As recent studies have noted that gentrification occurs differently in different cities (Betancur, 2014; Lees et al, 2016; Valle, 2020), we adopted a grounded, mixed methodology approach, aiming to identify that similar policy intervention can produce different results in different political economies. The State has been the primary driver of gentrification in the Global South, its role exceeding that in northern cities (Valle, 2020).…”

“…As recent studies have noted that gentrification occurs differently in different cities (Betancur, 2014; Lees et al, 2016; Valle, 2020), we adopted a grounded, mixed methodology approach, aiming to identify that similar policy intervention can produce different results in different political economies. The State has been the primary driver of gentrification in the Global South, its role exceeding that in northern cities (Valle, 2020). We explored the case of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where one of the poorest areas was the target for the main economic development policy conducted by the state government from 2004 to 2014.…”