Gentrification and the residents who are 'in between'. Master research on how gentrification in the neighbourhood is experienced by residents of social housing.

Abstract

Keeping in mind the different parts in the gentrification literature (why and how gentrification occurs; the people who gentrify; gentrification as policy and as urban strategy; people who are displaced by gentrification), there is an important part missing which is also very interesting for a more inclusive understanding of gentrification and its impacts. So, there is a gap in the gentrification literature: Only a few scholars have paid little attention in their research on the people that are in between the gentrifiers who come to the neighbourhood and the displaced who have to leave because of the incoming gentrifiers. Usually this group of ‘in between’ residents are forgotten: they are not directly involved in the process of gentrification and are probably therefore regarded as not as interesting as the gentrifiers and the displaced. But the gap in the literature goes even deeper: almost no attention is given to how this group perceives the gentrification process that is happening around them and how they experience the changes that have occurred, are occurring or will occur in their neighbourhood. This research aims to provide insight in exactly this point, by exploring the experiences and opinions of ‘in between’ residents regarding the changes in the neighbourhood due to gentrification in Assendorp, Zwolle, by using three indicators: housing, facilities & services, and social networks/cohesion & place attachment.

Results from this research show that most of the residents embrace the changes that (will) take place regarding housing and facilities & services, but at the same time are cautious about them, in particular with changes regarding the social network/cohesion & place attachment. Even more: ‘In between’ residents are thought to be less involved and somewhat protected ‘against’ gentrification, but they aren’t: emotional responses and opinions about changes and especially about possible changes in the future due to gentrification are very much present, and the opinions about the effects and impacts of gentrification on the neighbourhood are quite divers, and therefore gentrification and the changes that come with it aren’t perceived as black and white as thought.