Commercial gentrification in Prague: blessing or burden for local residents?

Abstract

In urban academic research, there is an ongoing debate whether commercial gentrification benefits or disadvantages local residents. Two pertinent questions have arisen from this debate. First, do local residents benefit from local specialty stores or are they excluded from them? Second, do these specialty stores contribute to local residents’ assessment of the quality of the living environment? This article seeks to examine the differences in use of specialty stores by local residents and gentrifiers, and in addition, users’ assessment of the quality of the living environment in Prague, Czech Republic. The results show that local residents and gentrifiers only slightly differ in their use of specialty stores, they all benefit from the stores. Furthermore, users of specialty stores are more positive in their assessment on the quality of the living environment. These findings therefore support the position in the debate that commercial gentrification can have positive implications for local residents.