This is the first book in Polity's new 'Urban Futures' series.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, proclamations rang out
that gentrification had gone global. But what do we mean by
'gentrification' today? How can we compare 'gentrification' in New York
and London with that in Shanghai, Johannesburg, Mumbai and Rio de
Janeiro? This book argues that gentrification is one of the most
significant and socially unjust processes affecting cities worldwide
today, and one that demands renewed critical assessment.
Drawing on the 'new' comparative urbanism and writings on planetary
urbanization, the authors undertake a much-needed transurban analysis
underpinned by a critical political economy approach. Looking beyond the
usual gentrification suspects in Europe and North America to non-Western
cases, from slum gentrification to mega-displacement, they show that
gentrification has unfolded at a planetary scale, but it has not assumed
a North to South or West to East trajectory - the story is much more
complex than that.
Rich with empirical detail, yet wide-ranging, Planetary Gentrification
unhinges, unsettles and provincializes Western notions of urban
development. It will be invaluable to students and scholars interested
in the future of cities and the production of a truly global urban
studies, and equally importantly to all those committed to social
justice in cities.
