Place revisited: class, stigma and urban restructuring in the case of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games

Abstract

This paper reappraises the meaning of space and place in contemporary class analysis. We explore how class is reshaped and mediated by neoliberal urban restructuring, of which the processes of gentrification and territorial stigmatization form critical parts. We focus on the contemporary interrelation of class and urban restructuring in the post-crash city by looking at the local lived experiences of the 2014 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow’s East End. This high-profile regeneration effort in a deprived working-class neighbourhood reveals much about the functions of neoliberal financial capitalism, austerity and contemporary class formation. We show that gentrification and territorial stigmatization work in tandem within urban regeneration policy interventions as a punitive strategy for managing poor populations. This involves land value and (de)valuing of people and creates new localized class inequalities and insecurities. Our research highlights that in the face of national level cuts and commodification, residents’ local relations and support become essential social, economic and political resources. Yet, paradoxically, at the very same time, their local attachment to place is devalued, stigmatized and is at its most precarious. This exposes the coercive elements of the neoliberal class project; a distinct urban class inequality of our time and therefore, we suggest, a critical direction in class analysis.

The elephant in the room? Why spatial stigma does not receive the public health attention it deserves

“…7 Debates on spatial stigma have also extended to housing and regeneration in the context of major urban redevelopment initiatives. Such programmes have been criticised for gentrifying neighbourhoods to attract private investment and more affluent incomers, 8 justifying the displacement of existing residents by implying: 'there must be something wrong with an area [and its residents]'. 9 In the context of austerity policies, others have forewarned that state withdrawal and disinvestment could exacerbate spatial stigma, 10 with labelling of welfare recipients or the working classes in political and public discourses seen to smooth the path to more stringent policy directions.…”

Light, connectivity and place: young people living in a post-industrial town

“…For young people in this study, it seems that the 'moral and economic class project of neoliberalism under austerity and financial capitalism is realised in a distinctly spatial way'. 50 Their campaign intended to combat both material abandonment and stigmatising narratives through representing their town as a place of civility and togetherness. We argue, thus, that taking light and dark seriously as key players in social interactions opens up possibilities for imagining and thinking about place, especially in contexts of inequality, class devaluation, and place-based stigmatisation.…”

‘It’s just a Trojan horse for gentrification’: austerity and stadium-led regeneration

“…This was the case with the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was used as part of a regeneration effort in a deprived neighbourhood in the East End of Glasgow. Paton et al, (2016) argue that the developments reveal much about austerity and neoliberal capitalism.…”