Housing insecurity, lived reality, and the right to stay put in a gentrified southern European neighborhood: the case of Sant Antoni in Barcelona

Over the past decade, Spain has experienced an expansion of gentrification processes, which now reach many neighborhoods in large cities that had previously remained unaffected by this phenomenon. In this chapter we provide reflections and testimonies on the lived reality in the neighborhood of Sant Antoni, in Barcelona. Similar to contemporary processes of urban transformation elsewhere in Southern Europe, Sant Antoni residents have experienced: high levels of residential insecurity, few regulations of the housing market, strong international investment in real estate, an emerging attraction of highly skilled migrants and a strong pressure from tourism. Through a qualitative approach, we address the impact of these transformations on the sense of community and belonging and the articulation of resistance movements in the neighborhood and across the city.