The changing state of gentrification

Abstract

Gentrification has changed in ways that are related to larger economic and political restructuring. Among these changes is the return of heavy state intervention in the process. This paper explores heightened state involvement in gentrification by examining the process in three New York City neighbourhoods: Clinton, Long Island City, and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). We argue that state intervention has returned for three key reasons. First, continued devolution of federal states has placed even more pressure on local states to actively pursue redevelopment and gentrification as ways of generating tax revenue. Second, the diffusion of gentrification into more remote portions of the urban landscape poses profit risks that are beyond the capacity of individual capitalists to manage. Third, the larger shift towards post-Keynesian governance has unhinged the state from the project of social reproduction and as such, measures to protect the working class are more easily contested.

Living through gentrification: subjective experiences of local, non-gentrifying residents in Leith, Edinburgh

“…In some ways, this is not so surprising; Leith is a good example of third-wave gentrification (Hackworth and Smith 2001), which is characterised by less opposition to the process. On the surface, at least, residents have a lot to celebrate with regards to the changes in their neighbourhood.…”

“…Ocean Terminal, and the upscale restaurants and bars around The Shore, have led to a large scale transformation of the area's retail and amenity structure, as well as its image within the city. The current gentrification in Leith fits the four criteria for third-wave gentrification outlined by Hackworth and Smith (2001). First, Leith is situated further from the city centre of Edinburgh than other gentrified parts of the city; second, large national developers are active in the process, particularly on infill sights and in the former harbour; third, as the empirical sections of this paper will show, there is little local resistance to the changes; and finally, the state is involved in much of the regeneration.…”

“…Gentrification began in the 1980s, with the beginnings of the transformation around the waterfront and some of the traditional tenement houses akin to Ruth Glass' original definition of the process. Over the past 10 years, this has intensified and since 2000 it has been joined with post-recession new-build gentrification in the former port areas (Davidson and Lees 2005;Hackworth and Smith 2001). This phase includes not only luxury flats, but a new shopping centre, Ocean Terminal, located on the waterfront.…”

“…Gentrification is primarily an upward class transformation and the creation of affluent space. As a result, it is seen by many scholars to include not only the upgrading of traditional working class housing, but also new-build projects geared to higher-income groups, on formerly industrial or waterfront lands, or more marginal areas further from the city centre (Slater 2006;Davidson and Lees 2005;Hackworth and Smith 2001;Smith 1996).…”

New forms of gentrification: issues and debates

“…He's (2009) analysis of the role of the state in Shanghai addresses some general features of state-led gentrifi cation such as the creation of optimal conditions for capital circulation or the investments in infrastructures and in the beautifi cation of residential areas. Her contribution, as well as the papers by Van Criekingen (2009), Kern (2009), and Lees (2009), illustrate what Hackworth andN. Smith (2001) have conceptualised as a third wave of gentrifi cation, 4 where local and national states, through major infrastructural investments and public-private partnerships, seek to initiate large-scale downtown-fringe redevelopments.…”