Urban Land, Housing, and Labor Markets: Links to Social and Cultural Change in North American Cities
Post-WW II Changes in North American Cities Deindustrialization Rise of service sector Shift in role of government Gentrification Urban social movements Shift to consumption-based urban cultures
How Urban Land Markets Work “Highest and best use” Competition, instability, and change Role of “speculator-developers” Role of state actors Role of housing consumers Role of finance capital Real estate agents/brokers Builders Appraiser, title companies, others
Gentrification and the “Rent-Gap” Suburban vs. inner-city investment and consequences for the inner-city The emergence of “rent-gaps” Narrowing of gaps in suburbs, widening of gaps in inner-city, make reinvestment in inner-city “rational” Changes in the nature of demand (economic restructuring, social movements, new demographics)
Example and Interlinkages: Rise of “Gay Gentrification” Expansion of job opportunities for gays and lesbians Pre-existing geography of gay/lesbian social and institutional life Tradition of link between property ownership, spatial concentration, and political-economic power Non-traditional class and cross-class conflicts and alliances
Gentrification and Gay Community Development Types of neighborhoods impacted Claiming and marking space Place-based political organizing Spectacle Commodification of identity Commodification of sex and sexuality Commodification of lifestyle Change in urban landscape & culture
Types of Neighborhoods Impacted
Claiming and Marking Space
Place-Based Political Organizing
Spectacle
Commodification of Identity
Commodification of Sex and Sexuality
Commodification of Lifestyle
Changes in Urban Landscape and Culture
Bringing it All Together: Gay Gentrification in New Orleans A neighborhood called Faubourg Marigny Pre-gentrification Marigny Early gentrification (early 1970s) and neighborhood-based politics The arrival of speculator-developers (mid- to-late 1970s)
Significance and Conclusions Despite everything, class interests prevailed Speculators mobilized the gay community! Role of state actors in restoring traditional distribution of power and profits More than just capital accumulation is at work