To what extent is gentrification a symptom of urban decline rather than a solution?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper by Charlie Heywood-Heath is to problematise the concept of gentrification as the solution to urban decline and instead frame it as a symptom of the disinvestment, stigmatisation and financialisation of housing (Hodkinson, 2019; Ley, 2003). Financialisation refers to the increasing role of housing within economic growth, which in turn places emphasis on its exchange value, known as commodification (Aalbers, 2016; Madden and Marcuse, 2016). These concepts provide a lens for understanding how successive housing policy enabled gentrification to thrive from a system of inequality that contributed to urban decline (ibid.).