IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v45y2008i12p2429-2448.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gentrification—Gentle or Traumatic? Urban Renewal Policies and Socioeconomic Transformations in Copenhagen

Author

Listed:
  • Henrik Gutzon Larsen

    (Department of Development and Planning, University of Aalborg, Fibigerstræde 13, Aalborg, 9220, Denmark, hgl@plan.aau.dk)

  • Anders Lund Hansen

    (Department of Economic and Cultural Geography, Lund University, Geocentrum byggnad I, Sölvegatan 10, Lund, 223 62, Sweden, Anders.Lund_Hansen@keg.lu.se)

Abstract

This article contrasts the intentions and outcomes of the publicly instigated and supported urban renewal of Copenhagen's Inner Vesterbro district. Apart from physically upgrading the decaying buildings, the municipality's aim was to include the inhabitants in the urban renewal process and, seemingly, to prevent the dislocation of people from the neighbourhood. However, due to ambiguous policies, the workings of the property market and the lack of sufficient deflecting mechanisms, middle-class inhabitants are now replacing the high concentration of socioeconomically vulnerable people that characterised Vesterbro before the urban renewal. This process may appear `gentle', but it is nonetheless an example of how state and market interact to produce gentrification with `traumatic' consequences for individuals and the city as a socially just space.

Suggested Citation

  • Henrik Gutzon Larsen & Anders Lund Hansen, 2008. "Gentrification—Gentle or Traumatic? Urban Renewal Policies and Socioeconomic Transformations in Copenhagen," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2429-2448, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:12:p:2429-2448
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098008097101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098008097101
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098008097101?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger Andersson & Sako Musterd, 2005. "Area‐Based Policies: A Critical Appraisal," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 96(4), pages 377-389, September.
    2. Tom Slater, 2004. "North American Gentrification? Revanchist and Emancipatory Perspectives Explored," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(7), pages 1191-1213, July.
    3. Anders Lund Hansen & Hans Thor Andersen & Eric Clark, 2001. "Creative Copenhagen: Globalization, Urban Governance and Social Change," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(7), pages 851-869, October.
    4. Jamie Peck, 2005. "Struggling with the Creative Class," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 740-770, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hans Thor Andersen & Lars Winther, 2010. "Crisis in the Resurgent City? The Rise of Copenhagen," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 693-700, September.
    2. Chunhui Liu & Weixuan Song, 2019. "Perspectives of Socio-Spatial Differentiation from Soaring Housing Prices: A Case Study in Nanjing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Lilliendahl Larsen & Jens Brandt, 2018. "Critique, Creativity and the Co-Optation of the Urban: A Case of Blind Fields and Vague Spaces in Lefebvre, Copenhagen and Current Perceptions of the Urban," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(3), pages 52-69.
    2. Boğa Semra & Topcu Murat, 2020. "Creative Economy: A Literature Review on Relational Dimensions, Challanges, and Policy Implications," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 8(2), pages 149-169, December.
    3. Johan Pries, 2020. "Neoliberal Urban Planning Through Social Government: Notes on the Demographic Re‐engineering of Malmö," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 248-265, March.
    4. Alberto Vanolo, 2013. "Alternative Capitalism and Creative Economy: the Case of Christiania," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1785-1798, September.
    5. Gordon Waitt & Chris Gibson, 2009. "Creative Small Cities: Rethinking the Creative Economy in Place," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(5-6), pages 1223-1246, May.
    6. Adam Arvidsson, 2011. "Creativity, Brands, Finance and Beyond: Notes Towards a Theoretical Perspective on City Branding," Chapters, in: Andy Pike (ed.), Brands and Branding Geographies, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Meghamrita Chakraborty, 2023. "Linking Migration, Diversity and Regional Development in India," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 8(1), pages 55-72, January.
    8. Pierluigi Sacco & Guido Ferilli & Giorgio Tavano Blessi, 2014. "Understanding culture-led local development: A critique of alternative theoretical explanations," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(13), pages 2806-2821, October.
    9. Kate Golebiowska, 2016. "Are Peripheral Regions Benefiting from National Policies Aimed at Attracting Skilled Migrants? Case Study of the Northern Territory of Australia," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 947-971, August.
    10. Francis Leo Collins & Wardlow Friesen, 2011. "Making the Most of Diversity? The Intercultural City Project and a Rescaled Version of Diversity in Auckland, New Zealand," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(14), pages 3067-3085, November.
    11. Cameron McAuliffe, 2013. "Legal Walls and Professional Paths: The Mobilities of Graffiti Writers in Sydney," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(3), pages 518-537, February.
    12. Amitrajeet A. Batabyal & Hamid Beladi, 2022. "The Response of Creative Class Members to Regions Vying to Attract Them With Subsidies," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 45(5), pages 581-600, September.
    13. Ann Marie Fiore & Linda S. Niehm & Jessica L. Hurst & Jihyeong Son & Amrut Sadachar & Daniel W. Russell & David Swenson & Christopher Seeger, 2015. "Will They Stay or Will They Go? Community Features Important in Migration Decisions of Recent University Graduates," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(1), pages 23-37, February.
    14. Mike Raco, 2014. "Delivering Flagship Projects in an Era of Regulatory Capitalism: State-led Privatization and the London Olympics 2012," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 176-197, January.
    15. Stefan Krätke, 2010. "‘Creative Cities’ and the Rise of the Dealer Class: A Critique of Richard Florida's Approach to Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 835-853, December.
    16. Tim Bunnell & Daniel P. S. Goh & Chee-Kien Lai & C. P. Pow, 2012. "Introduction: Global Urban Frontiers? Asian Cities in Theory, Practice and Imagination," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(13), pages 2785-2793, October.
    17. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Lee, Neil, 2020. "Hipsters vs. geeks? Creative workers, STEM and innovation in US cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103974, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Ann Markusen & Gregory H. Wassall & Douglas DeNatale & Randy Cohen, 2008. "Defining the Creative Economy: Industry and Occupational Approaches," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 22(1), pages 24-45, February.
    19. Aurélie LALANNE & Guillaume POUYANNE, 2012. "Ten years of metropolization in economics: a bibliometric approach (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    20. Manuel Fernández-García & Clemente J. Navarro & Irene Gómez-Ramirez, 2021. "Evaluating Territorial Targets of European Integrated Urban Policy. The URBAN and URBANA Initiatives in Spain (1994–2013)," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:12:p:2429-2448. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.