STREAM 4: New forms and limits of gentrification

Gentrification is an established academic concept that has penetrated activist and policy debates in many corners of the world. Gentrification is only not restricted to housing markets and neighbourhood transformation. The rising phenomenon of retail gentrification is transforming the commercial landscape of our cities, with the domination of international retail giants, displacing traditional businesses and low income shoppers. The change of use values into exchange values, the displacement of the previous actors, the eradication of everyday rhythms and the imposition of new lifestyles and cityscapes dictated by capital and the state become mode of the various nuances of gentrification.

In this stream we encourage discussion over the new forms, practices and spaces of gentrification, by focusing on the following questions:

• Which are the new forms and spaces of gentrification?
• How is space being re-invented?
• What new practices (affective, symbolic, resistant) foster or challenge gentrification?
• What can we learn from anti-gentrification activists about the building of a more just city?