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Are There Limits to Gentrification? The Contexts of Impeded Gentrification in Vancouver

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  • David Ley

    (Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z2, Canada, dley@geog.ubc.ca)

  • Cory Dobson

    (Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z2, Canada, Cory.Dobson@vancouver.ca.)

Abstract

This paper examines conditions that impede inner-city gentrification. Several factors emerge from review of a scattered literature, including the role of public policy, neighbourhood political mobilisation and various combinations of population and land use characteristics that are normally unattractive to gentrifiers. In a first phase of analysis, some of these expectations are tested with census tract attributes against the map of gentrification in the City of Vancouver from 1971 to 2001. More detailed qualitative field work in the Downtown Eastside and Grandview-Woodland, two inner-city neighbourhoods with unexpectedly low indicators of gentrification, provides a fuller interpretation and reveals the intersection of local poverty cultures, industrial land use, neighbourhood political mobilisation and public policy, especially the policy of social housing provision, in blocking or stalling gentrification.

Suggested Citation

  • David Ley & Cory Dobson, 2008. "Are There Limits to Gentrification? The Contexts of Impeded Gentrification in Vancouver," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2471-2498, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:12:p:2471-2498
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098008097103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chris Hamnett, 2003. "Gentrification and the Middle-class Remaking of Inner London, 1961-2001," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(12), pages 2401-2426, November.
    2. Heather A. Smith, 2003. "Planning, policy and polarisation in Vancouver's downtown eastside," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 94(4), pages 496-509, September.
    3. Benoit, Cecilia & Carroll, Dena & Chaudhry, Munaza, 2003. "In search of a Healing Place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 821-833, February.
    4. David Wilson & Jared Wouters & Dennis Grammenos, 2004. "Successful Protect-Community Discourse: Spatiality and Politics in Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(7), pages 1173-1190, July.
    5. Tom Slater, 2006. "The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 737-757, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2017. "Equity in Microscale Urban Design and Walkability: A Photographic Survey of Six Pittsburgh Streetscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Juan Uribe-Toril & José Luis Ruiz-Real & Jaime De Pablo Valenciano, 2018. "Gentrification as an Emerging Source of Environmental Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.

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