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Metropolis Observatory Josep Maria Pascual Esteve 07ISSUE PAPER and impoverishment in the

metro world association of the major observatory Contents gentrification The metropolitandynamicsof page 7 Introduction page 3 Bibliography page 14 Recommendations page 12 and diversity New citycentres,publichousing page Responses throughsocialactivism page 8 expulsion andimpoverishment A socialprocessofattraction, page 4 10 03

Introduction

One of the main challenges faced by the corresponding processes of successive large and metropolitan areas is the marginalisation it causes, gentrification contradiction between the key role they also acts as a vector for the ungovernable play in the world economy and global expansion of metropolitan areas. society, and the unequal distribution of the benefits brought by this role within each Displaced populations move to neighbour- metropolitan area. One of the most visible hoods or that are increasingly aspects of this inequality is gentrification, a far-removed from the centre and have process that nearly all the metropolises in less access to public services, resulting in a the world have experienced to some extent widespread deterioration in quality of life, or other. In broad terms, gentrification which is shown in the reduced economic, so- consists of the expulsion of inhabitants from cial and cultural opportunities for those who impoverished urban after live in these areas. Given the situation at hand, the areas are chosen for urban regeneration who is responsible for these people, the vic- and property development projects, becoming tims of consecutive exclusion and widespread inaccessible to the original population due to discrimination? Which authorities and levels higher prices and the corresponding of government need to act, and what do they goods and services. need to do?

The right to adequate housing for all has In the latest Issue Paper published by the been recognised in numerous Metropolis Observatory, we invite the conventions, such as the Universal Declaration economist and sociologist Josep Maria Pascual of Rights (UDHR), the Convention on to discuss the complexity of gentrification in the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination different metropolitan contexts, and to set against Women (CEDAW) and the 2030 out approaches to tackle the challenges it Agenda, which incorporates the fundamental presents. By approaching the subject on a objective, in Goal 11, of ensuring “access for metropolitan rather than a municipal scale, all to adequate, safe and this article presents a different perspective and basic services and upgrade slums”. from other publications on the debate surrounding gentrification. We hope it will be Gentrification is one of the main obstacles useful, especially in terms of putting effective to ensuring the human right to adequate measures in place to prevent and reverse housing, insomuch as it encourages the gentrification, and to guarantee the right to marginalisation of vulnerable sectors of fairer and more sustainable metropolitan society. On the other hand, as a result of cities.

Octavi de la Varga Metropolis Secretary General 04 metropolis observatory

A social process of attraction, expulsion and impoverishment

The term “gentrification” was used for Since then, the concept of gentrification has the first time by sociologist Ruth Glass been generally understood as the urban in 1964 to analyse the social changes phenomenon of the “working class being taking place in the urban displaced from their neighbourhoods by landscape. By using this concept, Glass those with higher purchasing power”. aimed to highlight the process of the In other words, gentrification can be city being appropriated, especially in understood as a social process in which central areas, by the upper class and both centrifugal (the working class being professional classes –nicknamed the forced further from the ) and “gentry”. This sector of the population centripetal forces (the upper and middle used to live in the city , before classes being drawn to the city centre) are beginning to progressively displace in action. the working class, who originally lived in the central neighbourhoods of the Over the course of the last few decades, metropolis. a number of gentrification processes

> The central of La Candelaria, in , which has deteriorated since the ‘70s due to safety concerns and the decline of colonial buildings, is now the location for joint flagship projects between the national government and the private sector, turning it into a residential and commercial with

high property values. Photo: Pedro Szekely 05

have taken place across metropolises 1. Gentrification in every corner of the globe, reflecting a A run-down neighbourhood (which may series of changes in demographics and can be be a historical city centre) that undergoes . These changes were an urban regeneration process where understood not necessarily a one-way street, and the area is inhabited, in many cases as the urban for the most part they included another informally, by sectors of society who are social challenge facing metropolitan phenomenon marginalised or in the process of being areas: impoverishment, a challenge in excluded, and where the middle class and of the working which centrifugal forces act to move the workers who used to live there are leaving. class being middle and even upper class away, while Public investment is secured to improve displaced centripetal forces attract vulnerable connections and access to areas sectors of society or those in the process from their outside the neighbourhood, historical of social exclusion. The phenomenon of buildings are refurbished, educational neighbourhoods impoverishment in central areas is visible, and cultural facilities that give the area a by those for example, when they are occupied, symbolic value are built, and new public with higher often informally, by immigrants in search spaces are opened. These measures of a better life, to the extent to which the include “cleansing” processes that purchasing upper classes are moving to low-density increase controls on illegally occupied power suburban areas. housing and temporary residences, in addition to an increase in health and Therefore, gentrification and impoverish- safety checks. ment are phenomena that generally These measures have the direct go hand in hand when looking at consequence of displacing the most metropolitan areas as a whole, given excluded members of the population, that the gentrification of certain who are forced to move to other areas in neighbourhoods or municipalities causes the metropolis with poor impoverishment elsewhere. When and fewer services. the metropolis has an international population from a range of different 2. linguistic and cultural backgrounds, The neighbourhood starts to be inhabited ghettoisation can also occur alongside by other sectors of the population with impoverishment, as different population a higher income or social class, and with types generally reside in separate areas greater social standing. However, they that tend to be exclusive. have a different lifestyle that may include artists or others working in the cultural Despite the nuances in the phenomenon sector, as well as people from alternative of gentrification and impoverishment social movements, the business sector in each metropolis, we can still identify and the creative economy. This tends to some common ground in the spiral be the start of the social rehabilitation of expulsion of marginalised persons. of the neighbourhood, in terms of its Gentrification tends to increase to some revaluation and place in the metropolis. extent, and not necessarily in the same It marks the start of property speculation, chronological order, when at least one of given that the talent of the new inhabitants the following conditions is in place: justifies a commercial renewal of the neighbourhood. Public investment to 06 metropolis observatory

> In , the artistic community moved to Mar Mikhael after being displaced by increasing rent prices in the Gemmayzeh neighbourhood, setting off a new gentrification process. The architectural style of local buildings and the presence of artists in Mar Mikhael saw this middle- low income neighbourhood become a fashionable area, aimed at a specific clientèle who wanted to appreciate an “authentic” feel combined with a vibrant nightlife. Photo: Melhem Rizk

attract talent and creativity to unique the price of the land and floor space per neighbourhoods can then be legitimised square metre. From this point onwards, with the aim of building a creative there is a spiral of investment and property city, through the purchase of land and speculation that increases rent prices in property by private investors, given the the neighbourhood, displacing first the price margins for buying and selling land lower income population, and then the as part of the process of improving the middle-income population. This is the so- neighbourhood and demographic change. called gentrification process, which in its purest form leads to a loss of residential 3. population and the neighbourhood Once the stigma of a run-down being inhabited by high-income earners, neighbourhood has been removed, the professionals under what is known as area has lost a good part of the excluded global capitalism. population, bringing a significant process of demographic change to a close. We are now looking at an accessible It should be reiterated that the conditions neighbourhood that has a unique or described above are based on a general symbolic value, where there is notable model. Although the model does not investment in offices, tourist apartments identify all the characteristics in every and hotels, as well as new housing or case, it does allow us to detect the features property renovation aimed at the middle- of gentrification in a specific metropolis at or high-income demographic that increase any given time, by means of comparison. 07

The metropolitan dynamics of gentrification

Metropolises are the main axes for and that are external to the entity’s main the flow of populations, capital, goods productive function or outside its field of The ability of and information around the world. For expertise. The headquarters of companies, a metropolis this reason, the economy and society in institutions and advanced service to influence general are organised in an international companies aim to locate themselves in a macro system of cities in which the development metropolitan city centres for three main of a region or mega-region is determined reasons: city centres are accessible, they regional or by the strategic positioning of the cities in have higher quality facilities and services, international this international city system. and the centre is symbolically important scope depends due to its historical and urban identity, The emergence of what is known as the giving a higher status to the offices located on its capacity post-industrial service-based society there. to attract brought with it a return to non-polluting companies’ productive activity, as well as the return For the very same reasons, urban city headquarters of higher income classes. This process has centres are highly sought-after by investors intensified and extended into what is now in hotels, tourist accommodation and and offer known as the information age, with the luxury apartments, which makes the price them a prime predominance of what Manuel Castells of land higher due to widespread demand. location calls the information economy and society. The growing increase in prices makes these areas an attractive draw for investors The capacity for directing or positioning a looking for higher profit margins, and they metropolis within the city system results flock to purchase, remodel and sell housing from its ability to influence the direction of and commercial premises in central the aforementioned supralocal flows. This locations. This results in a spiral of price capacity for direction is determined, in turn, increases, accelerating the displacement of by the number of company, organisational inhabitants from the neighbourhood. and institutional headquarters in each city with the ability to make economic, cultural This all results in the emergence of a feeling or political decisions with an international that citizens are being uprooted from the scope of action, or at least a scope that city, or more specifically, from the centres goes beyond a local or regional level. The of the metropolis or from the centres of power of a metropolis, or in other words, metropolitan municipalities, in addition its ability to influence a macro regional to the commercial privatization of the or international scope with regards to its public space in central neighbourhoods. interests or needs, depends on its ability In a similar vein, as low-income sectors to attract headquarters and offer them a of the population are replaced by higher prime location. income earners in metropolitan city centres, this usually results in an increase On the other hand, the location of in vulnerable population numbers in other headquarters in a city, as well as the quality neighbourhoods in the same , of the urban landscape and the city’s or in other metropolitan municipalities capacity for innovation, depends to a large with a lower income population, leading extent on advanced services that provide to local governments with lower resources qualified staff and knowledge in the having to deal with these challenges. areas where they need to be competitive, 08 metropolis observatory

Depending on the level of Gentrification vulnerability, the displaced results in population may: • act as a "gentrifier" in uprooting central neighbourhoods etr in other metropolitan M opoli citizens from tan s municipalities pa c the centres of • be forced to move to e Property goes UP IN increasingly preipheral VALUE and there the metropolis is real estate and in the and marginal areas speculation. commercial Central privatization District of the public

space in central

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neighbourhoods c

a RETAIL

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Low and middle-

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income residents l o

p o r t M are DISPLACED e X The residential function of the area and traditional commerce DISAPPEAR

Responses through social activism

Given the widespread process of the called global ruling class and local high- working class being expelled from urban income earners. In other words, by aiming city centres in metropolises around the to combat the supposed “gentrification”, world, the concept of gentrification they instead created gentrification on a has become generalised while the global level. procedure itself is trivialised, often resulting in inadequate public policies The cycles of gentrification and and insufficient governance systems impoverishment break the combined from urban and metropolitan bodies, cultural, social and functional model to which are unable to have an impact which a fair, balanced and sustainable on gentrification. Numerous cities have metropolis aspires: in an ideal world, tried to combat urban desertification, or housing, production, commerce, leisure rather the “gentrification” of the resident and the free circulation of citizens population, by putting a stop only to should exist side by side, throughout all tourist accommodation. This has led, in neighbourhoods and municipalities. For turn, to the purchase of real estate to be this reason, activists have responded to turned into luxury residences for the so- the impact of gentrification through urban 09

movements that aim to recover the entire at guaranteeing equal opportunities for city as a public space, a common good, and residents, as well as moving towards The cycles of something that is shared by all citizens. a metropolitan space with a more gentrification heterogeneous social composition (social and impove- Neighbourhoods in the process of mixture) and a greater diversity of rishment break ghettoisation and with greater social urban functions in each neighbourhood inequalities demand the right to the city, (functional mixture). the combined which means not only fighting against cultural, social the displacement of local inhabitants, For these reasons, citizens must and functional but also guaranteeing sufficient public claim the right to the city and to their facilities to meet the social needs of neighbourhood, and these rights must model to which all on a local, human scale. It means be guaranteed on a metropolitan city a fair, balanced streets from the perspective level. This does not mean locating all and sustainable of keeping people safe, giving priority life in one particular municipality or metropolis to pedestrians and ensuring greater neighbourhood, as aside from hindering visibility, while breaking the stagnant policies acting against gentrification aspires division between public and private and impoverishment/ghettoisation, this space, creating intermediate spaces that runs counter to natural daily life in the encourage connections and that build city, which moves naturally between spaces for community use to encourage neighbourhoods and homes. And in the socialisation of care. particular, it is important to guarantee these rights in terms of the way of life Social pressure has played a very important of different generations who live in role in cases where gentrification has cities and who have changed residence been curbed, with local governments through both necessity and opportunity. creating policies aimed

> had a rent control policy in place for a number of years. When the policy came to an end, rent prices rose in more central neighbourhoods, and civil society has reacted in turn. Photo: Carl Hiett 10 metropolis observatory

New city centres, public housing and diversity

We are no longer looking at the question in the mega-region or mega-regions it is of a single metropolis or metropolitan part of undoubtedly needs to have an The strategy area, but rather at systems of cities international space to accommodate the of new and metropolises that form mega- new economic, residential, educational centralities is regions. In other words, there are and cultural activities inherent to global now supranational urban groups citizenship. a policy that connected by advanced transport interests all the systems and digital technologies Considering this, one of the questions municipalities that have created a new urban and we need to ask is: Is it possible to transnational infrastructure that encourage the internationalisation of the of the could even be considered global in metropolis without causing gentrification metropolitan scope. According to R. , the 40 and ghettoisation? The answer is yes, territory top mega-regions represent 66% of as long as there is a policy in place to world economic activity and 85% of create new city centres in a sufficiently science and technology innovation. Any large space, so that the increase in metropolis that wants to play a key role land price is distributed throughout the

> has approved a policy that real estate developers must allocate 30% of new builds or large- scale renovation projects to affordable housing. This housing can be in any part of the urban fabric, and may also be in the consolidated central fabric of the city. In addition, Barcelona City Council has the pre-emption right to this new protected housing at a price much lower than the market price, allowing it to turn this accommodation into centrally located public

housing. Photo: Habier López 11

> has one of the highest housing budgets in the world: 32% of all rental housing belongs to the community, while a further 26% is owned by non-profit organisations, allowing rent to be maintained at

Photo: Peter Gugerell reasonable prices.

area. This would not only allow, but identification and a wider projection. also encourage, a range of functions These new city centres should be A broad policy throughout the urban space, as well conceived as an integrated space of affordable as increasing the variety of housing on within neighbourhoods that allow for a housing should offer, especially in terms of creating new combination of residential, commercial, areas with affordable housing within productive, cultural and educational uses aim at social new city centres. within a plan. and functional Naturally, this must also come alongside mixture The strategy of new centralities requires the creation of a stock of public rental in each an approach that extends accommodation that local governments across the metropolitan region, and is an can use in a flexible manner to regulate neighbourhood interesting policy for the vast majority of the different stages of centrifugal and municipalities in urban . centripetal processes. Therefore, it is indeed possible to approve and develop a shared master A broad policy of affordable housing can plan of new city centres and areas be implemented in newly central areas. with multiple urban uses, which local This includes public housing, regulated governments could implement in their private housing (at lower than market municipalities. prices) and shared social creation of mixed housing alternatives. In previously It is clear that new city centres must consolidated central areas, large-scale be accessible, high quality areas and urban actions are difficult to put in with symbolic value, in order to attract place due to the financial costs of public investors. This symbolic value can be investment. A higher number of one-off created through investment in cultural actions that still promote a mixture of or historical heritage, encouraging housing should instead be implemented. 12 metropolis observatory

The combination of new central areas If it were possible to do this at a low price and public housing stock should have or even for free in the general interest, the underlying objective of maximising then there would be unsustainable social heterogeneity and in mobilisation given that ownership of every neighbourhood in the city, as a land in cities is very fragmented, and this driver for creativity, social cohesion would affect a large number of citizens. and sustainability. These actions must It would be much simpler to draw up a be accompanied by urban policies that plan for public land before it is classified promote equal opportunities. as developable. As we can see, the municipalisation of consolidated urban The municipalisation of land would without land is a very complex issue. Even so, it a doubt be a very effective measure, but in is possible to explore tools such as the most cities it is a very complex undertaking progressive municipalisation of land over for two reasons. The first is that, in order a period of time, in order to achieve the to carry out an expropriation of the land objective in a more economically viable in a consolidated central , a way in exchange for setting a much large amount of funds would be needed. broader time frame.

Recommendations

In conclusion, we need to success- right of first refusal for the government fully face up to the processes of to buy property and buildings in gentrification and impoverishment, these established areas. Establishing without slipping down the ranks specific programmes for these areas, of the global system. In order to with the goal of detecting bad practice do this, there are a number of by property owners dealing with the complementary general measures most vulnerable sectors of society, that could be applied by most and setting out guidelines for social local governments acting on a policies and punishable actions. metropolitan scale, such as: • Encouraging the public purchase of

property and land in general, in order • Putting a metropolitan master plan in place that encourages the creation to be able to regulate population of new central areas and a rental movements while giving priority property stock with socially accessible to maintaining residency in the prices throughout the metropolitan neighbourhood. area. • Establishing an inventory of • Defining areas in the metropolis as a empty apartments and preventing whole that need to be conserved and transactions involving non-refurbished regenerated, in order to establish the buildings. 13

• Commissioning an impact study it is important to keep the increase in on rent prices during the process market value of the properties and of renewing and regenerating premises in adjoining neighbourhoods neighbourhoods. in mind. • Setting a social rent price for private • Maintaining and increasing the property developments, with property on offer, while always regulation for the private sector. including a proportion of the property that is subsidised by the public • Encouraging the shared social authorities, in order to protect the ownership of property alongside neighbourhood’s residential function. cooperatives and third sector This can be achieved by making organisations. changes to property density through • Eradicating or replacing property agreements with owners, such as speculation practices in the market dividing up large apartments and for urban land. turning empty commercial premises into housing. • Passing municipal and metropolitan ordinances that define the • Managing investment and municipal percentage of housing for subsidies in order to put a halt to the residential, temporary or tourist rise in rent prices, with legal measures in purposes, while regulating the place to establish a reference rent price regional distribution of different for housing in each neighbourhood. types of tourist accommodation. • Sharing out the cost of renovating the Making sure to strictly monitor and neighbourhood between the owners apply these ordinances to limit of housing properties and commercial tourist activity in neighbourhoods premises, and subsidising that cost in that are in the process of widespread exchange of making a commitment to gentrification. limit the rise in rental or sale prices. • Carrying out the required legal • Encouraging a decrease in commercial modifications to encourage public activity on the ground floor throughout housing and to protect traditional all the neighbourhoods in the commerce by providing the use of metropolis. public land and offering financial guarantees to the third sector and • Applying measures against the organisations in the social economy harassment carried out by investment and solidarity economy. funds towards the inhabitants of buildings they want to sell, such • Changing property taxes to recover as threats of being affected by empty flats and offer them up for construction work, noise, etc. rent or sale, or otherwise reducing Recognising the urban heritage and reimbursing property tax on • of traditional commerce in the buildings in order to speed up neighbourhood and protecting its the process of being listed on the most iconic aspects. property market for social rent or for use by the third sector. In this sense, 14 metropolis observatory

In summary, the recommendations should be kept open, especially in order take into account the concept of to face up to the challenges presented accessible housing in its broadest by advanced gentrification, and to sense, which is articulated through a reverse it. wide range of participants: in addition to public housing, we also need to Finally, another important factor is count on a regulated private housing that the right to housing, secure rental market (at lower than market prices) contracts and the access of low-income and the social co-creation of mixed earners (both men and women) to residential alternatives, not just purely services, across all intersectional government-run options, nor those that identities, should be a priority for are purely for profit. metropolitan governments. Whatever measures are applied, an intersectional These recommendations are simply analysis is required in order to better a display of measures that have understand the discrimination that either been implemented already or plays out on top of the complex have otherwise been studied by the realities of the needs of marginalised governments of metropolises, and members of society. In addition to that could have a significant impact socio-economic class, we will also need as complementary measures to deal to determine other social categories with the processes of gentrification. that are discriminated against, such as Nonetheless, they are not an exhaustive place of birth, disability, ethnicity, age list. The debate on gentrification and and gender, among other things. impoverishment in the metropolis

Bravo, D. “Por un urbanismo que sitúe las personas en el centro”, Barcelona Pascual Esteve, JM. Las ciudades ante el Metrópolis, no. 98 (2016) cambio de era (Barcelona, ed. Hacer, 2016) Castells, M. La Ciudad informacional (, ed. Alianza, 1995) Smith, N. La nueva frontera urbana. Ciudad revanchista y gentrificación Florida, R. Les ciutats creatives (Barcelona, (Madrid, ed. Traficantes de sueños. ed. Pòrtic, 2009) 2012)

Harvey, D. Las ciudades rebeldes (Madrid, Sorando, D. Ardura. A. First we take Bibliography ed. Akal, 2013) (Madrid, ed. Catarata, 2017) Lees, D. et al. Gentrification (London, Routledge ed. 2007) UN-Habitat. (2006). of the World Cities Report. The Millennium Observatorio Metropolitano de Madrid Development Goals and Urban (coord.) El mercado contra la ciudad Sustainability: Thirty Years of Shaping (Madrid, ed. Traficantes de sueños, the Habitat Agenda. (London, 2015) Earthscan) About the author

Josep Maria Pascual Esteve has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Barcelona. He holds a Master’s in Political Analysis from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economic Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He is Head of Urban Quality Strategies (Estratègies de Qualitat Urbana), a team that specialises in developing tools and methodologies for governance. He is President of the Citizens and Good Governance Foundation, (Fundación Ciudadanía y Buen Gobierno) and a founding member and coordinator of AERYC, the Africa/America/Europe Association of Regions and Cities. Pascual is also a guest lecturer at a number of universities in Spain and Latin America. He has worked as a consultant for the United Nations and has been involved in assessing, drafting and evaluating over 100 urban and regional strategies in Europe, Africa and Latin America. As a result of his research and actions, he has published eight books and has been involved in a further ten books on planning, strategic management of cities and regions, and drafting ,

Dr. Josep Maria Pascual Esteve Doctor of Sociology from the University of Barcelona

The information and views set out in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the institutio- nal opinion of the World Association of the Major Metropolises (Metropolis). Neither the Metropolis Secretariat Ge- neral nor any person acting on behalf of the association may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the contents of this work.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer- cial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/4.0/ Supported by: Edition: December 2018

This publication contributes to the implementation of the following Sustainable Development Goals:

REDUCED SUSTAINABLE CITIES INEQUALITIES AND COMMUNITIES

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