Examining the Portability of the Concept of Gentrification: The Case of London and Shanghai

• In Event: 095 - Section on Community and Urban Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Gentrification

Abstract

In 1964, the British sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term “gentrification” in order to describe the replacement of working-class people with middle class individuals in Islington, an inner city neighborhood in London. The term has become widely adopted among social scientists and policy makers to describe a diverse array of urban processes across the globe. This paper aims to examine the extent to which this term is a useful analytic concept in two radically different contexts. I will first provide a historical overview of the term gentrification and examine the structural forces that led to demographic shifts in the Islington neighborhood in London in the 1960’s. Then I will parse out the separate processes that are lumped together under the term and explain how the concept was disseminated to other world cities. I will examine the state led development of the Xintiandi neighborhood in Shanghai and compare the different mechanisms that led to the redevelopment in Islington. I will then evaluate it’s utility in describing the demographic shifts as gentrification in London and Shanghai. Other scholars have done comparative work on gentrification (Carpenter and Lees 1995 and Harris 2008); however, this analysis will examine temporality in each context. Finally, I will propose several criteria to consider when determining whether or not a particular demographic shift constitutes gentrification.

Author

• Emily Helen Yen, University of California-Los Angeles