The Department of Geography Seminar Series 2016-17 Suburbanization and Gentrification: Synthesis, Complexities and The Importance of Residential Differentiation.

Lawton talk: frontiers of suburbia
Thursday, October 27, 2016 - 16:00
Rocque Lab, Ground Floor, Rhetoric House

This paper seeks to demonstrate unpack the relationships between literature on gentrification and suburbanization. Although there has been some tentative discussion about what the relationship between gentrification and suburbanization (Lees et al., 2016), this remains isolated to very specific cases. Meanwhile, Ley and Teo (2014) have critiqued gentrification on the basis of what they label as ‘conceptual overstretching’, whereby it has been assumed that a set of processes identified in particular contexts, such as New York and London, are now occurring elsewhere on the planet. Never-the-less, gentrification continues to form a core element of urban debate and has become increasingly apparent within wider media discussions about urban change. Meanwhile, emerging body of literature has demonstrated the heigthened role of suburbanization within the context of broader processes of urbanization (Hamel and Keil, 2015). Drawing upon ongoing going debates over ‘planetary urbanization’, this work has highlighted the extent to which urbanization can now be seen as being predominantly suburban (Ibid). It is of note, that although recognizing each other’s presence, work on suburbanization and gentrification remain largely separated aside from the brief recognition of potential overlaps (Lees et al., 2016). This is despite the possible synthesis in terms of political economy, governance and, at times, even actors, such as real estate developers. Almost consistently, suburbia is outlined as something wholly distinctive, spatially, socially and conceptually from centres. Yet, as will be argued in this paper, in the context of an ever-increasing expansion of the urban realm, the dialectical relationship between what is denoted as ‘suburbia’ and ‘the centre’ becomes of key importance. As was recognized by Smith (1982), the continued gentrification of central areas will work in tandem with the decline of certain suburbs and the continued expansion of the countryside. Understanding this inter-relationship thus becomes a key element in understanding the wider production of uneven urban space. When taken together, the paper thus concludes by a call for a much greater focus upon uneven development across urban space in a manner that is conscious of the subtle manners in which residential space (as part of wider urban space) is produced and reproduced.