good stuff from Neil though I dont entirely agree re
gentrification/regeneration. Clearly that link is strongly there but there is
more. There is the link too with competitive cities and securing lower income
areas/homes. As always there is a complex dynamic here. Peter
>>> "[log in to unmask]" 10/12/00 12:53:45 >>>
Neil and interested others,
Neil you make some very interesting comments here because I
am currently working on a discourse type analysis of the
British government's Urban Task Force Report - in which
gentrification is not mentioned but to be found in terms
like urban renaissance, urban regeneration and even
disturbingly - blue print for civilization!
I am especially interested in the subtle way that a)
language is used in this report and b) that social
exclusion is ignored.
If anyone has come across or has any points to make on the
language/discourse of gentrification in especially policy
terms I would like to hear from you.
best wishes,
Loretta Lees
> The interesting question for me is why the term "gentrification" is being
> questioned now and in Britain, precisely when the process is becoming
> established policy. "Urban regeneration" is just a neutered way of
> saying gentrification which politely avoids the class constitution of the
> processes involved. It's hard to be for "gentrification" but who could
> oppose urban regeneration?
>
> Have there been good critiques of the urban regeneration language? I
> haven't seen them but I may also be missing something. Also, I don't
> think it's an adeqaute defense to say that urban regeneration covers so
> much more than gentrification. the whole point about gentrification today
> is that as a process it has evolved well beyond the "two up two down
> mews" that Ruth Glass talked about in 1963. From Boston to Barcelona to
> Brisbane the process is a comprehensive remake of central urban
> landscapes with clear, global connections and major implications about
> class and culture, politics and gender, etc.
> My thrupence worth.
>
> neil smith
>
> NEW E-MAIL AND ADDRESS:
>
> Neil Smith
> Center for Place Culture and Politics
> 6107 Graduate Center
> City University of New York
> 365 Fifth Avenue
> New York NY 10016
>
> 212 817 1876/77
> [log in to unmask]
----------------------
Dr. Loretta Lees
Department of Geography
King's College London
Strand, London, WC2R 2LS,
U.K.
Tel: 020-7848-2243(direct)/2632(office)
Fax: 020-7848-2287
Email: [log in to unmask]
See:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/geography
Links to:
KCL Cities, Culture and Social Change Research Group
KCL MA in Cities, Culture and Social Change
KCL Gentrification website (www.gentrification.org)
This message is confidential and intended for the addressee only.
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