Journal of Urban Affairs

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Handbook of gentrification studies

Dennis E. Gale

To cite this article: Dennis E. Gale (2019): Handbook of gentrification studies, Journal of Urban
Affairs, DOI: 10.1080/07352166.2019.1575147

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2019.1575147

Published online: 25 Mar 2019.

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JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS

BOOK REVIEW

Handbook of gentrification studies, edited by Loretta Lees with Martin Phillips,

Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018

This weighty collection takes aim at the seemingly infinite permutations and combinations of
discourse composing the gentrification cosmos. There are 32 contributors, among whom 20 have
disciplinary roots of varying depths in human geography. Three others are sociologists, three are
urban planners, one is a lawyer, and the remainder are associated with other fields. Fifteen authors
have links to the UK, nine to other European nations, four to the United States, two to China, and
one each to Canada and South America. Clearly, Editor Lees (aided by Martin Phillips) has gone to
considerable lengths to engage multiple scholarly interlocutors and to present an impressive range of
planetary perspectives. The result is a rabble of voices with enough variation among them to please
both the orthodox and the heterodox alike.
The book is divided into five sections: Gentrification Theory, Core Concepts in Gentrification,
Social Cleavages in Addition to Class in Gentrification, Types of Gentrification, and Living and
Resisting Gentrification. In the theory section, Hyun Bang Shin and Ernesto Lopez-Morales probe
the heavily Anglo-American emphasis in previous gentrification research. This has produced lin-
guistic challenges, as scholars struggle to capture elements of the phenomenon in various languages
and disparate cultural frames of reference. In a somewhat abstruse expository, Freek de Haan draws
on the “Copenhagen interpretation of gentrification” and its roots in quantum physics as an avenue
to understanding the phenomenon’s “relational multiplicity” (p. 27). Readers who exult in the
recondite, take note.
A consistent theme in the Handbook calls for a “de-centering” of scholarship on gentrification
that universalizes its hemispheric, nationalistic, and cultural particularities. From this, it is hoped,
will rise a planetary lexicon of terms, concepts, and processes that take root in the literature. Other
theoreticians, including Editor Lees, point out the seemingly insurmountable complexities in such
a mission. Lees seeks to embed this quest in the larger realm of comparative urbanism. Even well-
worn terms, she points out, such as neoliberalism in Northern Hemisphere nations do not necessa-
rily translate in other countries unfamiliar with its generic roots: the liberal state.
Five chapters cogitate elements of social class and gentrification. In their chapter, Michaela
Benson and Emma Jackson raise questions as to whether Western assumptions regarding class
structure, embedded as they often are in 19th-century ideas about industrialization and labor
relations, still have any explanatory power for gentrification theory. Martin Phillips meditates on
the element of landscape and materiality in gentrification theory. He clarifies how disconnected the
physicality of gentrified spaces has become, due to the heavy contemporary scholarly emphasis on
social and cultural systems. Closely linked is Patrick Rerat’s exegesis analyzing “social capital as
a guiding thread” (p. 103) in gentrification literature. Rerat draws on residential location and
household mobility theories to help him triangulate a persuasive conceptual framework around
notions of inequality.
I found the section on social cleavages other than class to be especially illuminating. Chapters on
gentrification and nonnormative sexualities, age and life course, gender, and ethnicity do much to
concretize the sometimes elusive and ethereal trench work carried out by other contributors. Petra
Doan performs admirably in pulling together an impressive corpus of research on LGBTQ studies
and probing their depths for insights into the dynamics of gentrification. Tone Huse takes scholars
to task for the underrepresentation of studies of ethnic segregation in gentrifying areas. In particular,
she expresses discomfort with the implied, if not explicit, valuation of Whiteness in the transforma-
tion of poor and working-class ethnic enclaves.
2 BOOK REVIEW

Nine chapters are devoted to analyzing various subcategories of gentrification: slum, new-build,
social housing, tourism, retail, “gentle,” environmental, artists/cultural, and wilderness. Each author
takes pains to demarcate the elements of her or his subcategory, some resulting in a more persuasive
case than others. Eduardo Ascensao ranges widely over slum gentrification, touching on “celebrity
slums” (p. 226), paid toilet blocks, gated high-rises, mega-events as catalysts, and the liabilities of the
word slum. In discussing new-build gentrification, Mark Davidson counsels scholars to frame this
inquiry in the more expansive realm of “capitalism’s relationship to urbanization,” rather than the
narrower one embodying “the last 30 years of neoliberal urbanism” (p. 248). Davidson adds that our
original conceptions of gentrification (heavily rooted in Anglo-American scholarship) were largely
limited to the rehabilitation of existing structures, and the advent of new-build forms has exemplified
the true parameters of the gentrification phenomenon.
Agustin Cocola-Gant makes clear that tourism gentrification is a subcategory often miscontex-
tualized in the conceptual straight jacket enrobing Northern Hemisphere advanced capitalist econo-
mies. Of particular interest is the sharing economy and, through Airbnb-type home rentals, its
conversion of formerly full-time residential housing stock to temporary accommodations for non-
residents. Phil Hubbard’s ethnographic lament on retail gentrification highlights the spatial restruc-
turing of the borough of Brixton. (Having first visited Brixton shortly before the civil unrest there in
the early 1980s, I was shocked at the transformations he describes.) Long London’s center of African
and West Indian culture, the borough’s racially and ethnically rich business sector is rapidly
succumbing to an invasion of boutiques, cafes, and other up-market shops as “hipsters” multiply,
family businesses dwindle, and corporatized outlets catering to more sophisticated tastes rechar-
acterize the sociocultural milieu.
In one of the Handbook’s few U.S. case studies, Juliet Kahne’s examination of “gentle gentrifica-
tion” centers on the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles (p. 310). Unlike most examples of gentrifica-
tion, she finds, the community’s metamorphosis has proceeded with restraint. Many residents seem
resistant to the kind of rapid and disruptive restructuring found in more aggressive reinvestment
contexts. I could not help suspecting that Silver Lake may exemplify the broader phenomenon
encompassed by residential succession theory, rather than the narrower concept of gentrification. If
so, Kahne should bear no fault, given the nebulous state of gentrification definitions among scholars
and other observers.
Hamill Pearsall grapples with environmental/green gentrification as, for example, when land
values appreciate in response to brownfield remediation, waterfront redevelopment, and the con-
struction of public parks and bike infrastructure. Tracing various responses to capital reinvestment
in such settings, she expresses some optimism for planning approaches that explicitly incorporate the
views of long-time and newcomer residents. Andy Pratt contends with the subordination of artists in
development schemes that appropriate cultural consumption as a thematic element in the pursuit of
capital accumulation. Among gentrification scholars with whom he quibbles are Sharon Zukin, Neal
Smith, and Richard Florida. In particular, Pratt rues the displacement of artists, as well as artistic
communities, in the name of city regeneration. Darren Smith, Martin Phillips, and Chloe Kinton
shed light on the migration of gentrification from cities to wilderness or rural settings in England
and Wales. Here, the obvious contributions of tourism and second-home development are included
in their perspective.
The last section of the book examines efforts to respond to gentrification. Sandra Annunziata and
Clara Revas-Alonso interrogate the elements of resistance, opining that “the most effective and
interesting” work arises not from the closeted confines of academia but, rather, from scholar-
activists (p. 396). The co-authors offer a typology of resistance techniques from prevention to
delay to more assertive responses such as squatting in unoccupied properties. Susannah Bunce
describes examples of two alternatives to gentrification: community land trusts in Toronto and
London and ecovillages, a more demanding option, in Dakar, Senegal, and Los Angeles. Geoffrey
deVerteuil poses a five-part typology to represent the diverse interrelationships between immigrants
and the processes of gentrification. It ranges from immigrant settlements serving as barriers to
 JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS 3

gentrification to immigrants as gentrifiers themselves. He presents his own research on the

Koreatown section of Los Angeles, finding that state policies impose little influence on gentrification,
whereas private investment from Koreans and Korean Americans fuels much of the process. The
concept of “self-renovating neighborhoods” is examined by Jess Steele. She proposes “new kinds of
non-exploitive, mutually obligated contractual relationships” between residents and construction
professionals (p. 475).
As readers reach the final pages of this book, they may find themselves recoiling from the
concussive force of Antonia Layard’s chapter on English property and planning law. Her account
of the harsh realities and inconvenient truths about property rights and public authority stands in
stark contrast to the tone of most other chapters in the Handbook. Ranging over issues such as
freehold and leasehold estates, security of tenure, the termination of rent control laws, limitations on
government rental subsidies, declining council housing supplies, and the ease of tenant evictions,
Layard reveals the regulatory maze awaiting those who contend with gentrification issues such as
displacement. Alas, these are matters too routinely ignored or glossed over by the disciples of some
scholarly disciplines. It is to Editor Lees’s credit that she chose to include this sobering antidote to
the well-intentioned, but hermetically sealed, idealism sometimes appearing in gentrification
publications.
Readers seeking intensive empirical case studies of specific gentrification neighborhoods will find
only a few examples in the Handbook. Instead, most chapters offer extensive literature reviews, some
of which are punctuated with brief real-world examples of gentrification-related observations. The
Handbook stands not only as a treasure trove of recent research on gentrification but offers scholars
a desk reference for conveniently probing the rarified atmosphere composed by the phenomenon’s
many dimensions and subgenres. Taken together, its contents pose a handy dialectic from which
readers may harvest a bounty of insights.
Alas, the Handbook’s daunting price ($290) will probably discourage some instructors who search
for a suitable class text. However, this volume draws on an impressive cast of contributors and
embraces a dizzying array of interrelated topics. Scholars, researchers, and advanced graduate
students are probably its most likely audience. Whatever the case, what has been said of the Bible
might also be said of the Handbook: there’s something in it for everyone. Contrarians and establish-
mentarians alike will find intellectual nourishment.

Dennis E. Gale
Stanford University
dennis.gale42@gmail.com
© 2019 Urban Affairs Association
https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2019.1575147