This article provides a comparative analysis of neighbourhood renewal processes in Brussels and Montreal based on a typology of such processes wherein gentrification is precisely delimited. In this way, it seeks to break with the extensive use of a chaotic conception of gentrification referring to the classic stage model when dealing with the geographical diversity of neighbourhood renewal, within or between cities. In both Brussels and Montreal, the gentrification concept only adequatly describes the upward movement of very restricted parts of the inner city, while neighbourhood renewal in general more typically comprises marginal gentrification, upgrading and incumbent upgrading. Evidence drawn from the case studies suggests that each of these processes is relevant on its own-i.e. linked to a particular set of causal factors-rather than composing basically transitional states within a step-by-step progression towards a common gentrified fate. Empirical results achieved in Brussels and Montreal suggest that a typology such as the one implemented in this article could be used further in wider research aimed at building a geography of neighbourhood renewal throughout Western cities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Beauregard, R.A. (1986) The chaos and complexity of gentrification, in N. Smith and P. Williams (Eds) Gentrification of the City, pp. 35-55. Winchester : Allen and Unwin.
2.
Beauregard, R.A. (1990) Trajectories of neighbourhood change: the case of gentrification, Environment and Planning A, 22, pp. 855-874.
3.
Beaverstock, J.V., Smith, R.G. and Taylor, P.J. (1999) A roster of world cities, Cities , 16, pp.445-458.
4.
Bondi, L. (1999) Gender, class, and gentrification: enriching the debate, Environment and Planning D, 17, pp. 261-282.
5.
Bourive, L.S. (1993) The demise of gentrification ? A commentary and prospective view, Urban Geography, 14, pp. 95-107.
6.
Brown, K. and Wyly, E. (2000) A new gentrification ? A case study of the russification of Brighton Beach, New York, Geographical Bulletin, 42, pp. 94-105.
7.
Bunting, T.E. and Phipps, A. (1988) Inner-city home renovation in two medium-sized Canadian cities: a case of modest upgrading, in T. E. Bunting and P. Filion (Eds) The ChangingCanadianInner City, pp. 137-158. Waterloo: University of Waterloo.
8.
Butler, T. (1997) Gentrification and the Middle Classes. Aldershot: Ashgate.
9.
Butler, T. and Robson, G. (2001) Social capital, gentrification and neighbourhood change in London: a comparison of three South London neighbourhoods, Urban Studies, 38, pp. 2145-2162.
10.
Carpenter, J. and Lees, L. (1995) Gentrification in New York, London and Paris: an international comparison, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 19, pp. 286-303.
11.
Charbonneau, F. and Parenteau, R. (1991) Operation 20.000 logements et 1'espace social de Montreal, Recherches Sociologiques, 32, pp. 237-254.
12.
Chevalier, J. (1994) Les contradictions d'une 'renaissance' au coeur des villes nord-americaines, in: J. Chevalier and J.-P. Peyon (Eds) Au centre des villes, dynamiques et recompositions, pp. 213-260. Paris : L'Harmattan.
Clemmer, G. (2000) Quantitative and spatial analysis techniques for analyzing gentrification patterns, Independent Research Project, Port-land State University (www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/gentrification.html; accessed September).
15.
Comite Du Logement Du Plateau Mont-Royal ( 2002) Mon quartier... j'y suis, j'y reste !!! (www.cam.org/∼clpmr).
16.
Corral, I. (1986) Inner-city gentrification: the case of Shaughnessy Village, Montreal. MA thesis, McGill University, Montreal.
17.
Criekingen, M. Van (1994) Evolution differentielle de deux ensembles de cites-jardins bruxelloises: La Roue a Anderlecht, Le Logis et Le Floreal a Watermael-Boitsfort , Revue Belge de Geographie, 56, pp. 167-176.
18.
Criekingen, M. Van (1996) Processus de gentrification à Bruxelles: le cas du quartier 'Dansaert Saint-Gery', Bulletin de la Societe BeLge d'Etudes Geographiques, 2, pp. 205-233.
19.
Criekingen, M. Van (2001) La renovation residentielle à Montréal et à Bruxelles. Unpublished PhD thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
20.
Criekingen, M. Van (2003) Les impacts sociaux de la renovation urbaine Bruxelles: analyse des migrations intra-urbaines, Belgeo, 4, pp. 355-376.
21.
Decroly, J.-M., Criekingen, M. Van and Crahay, A. (2000) Les consequences sociospatiales des politiques urbaines 'entrepreneuriales', Ruimte enPlanning, 20, pp. 51-64.
22.
Gale, D.E. (1980) Neighborhood resettlement: Washington, DC, in: S. B. Laska and D. Spain (Eds) Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation , pp. 95-115. New York: Pergamon .
23.
Galland, O. (1990) Un nouvel age de la vie, Revue Francaise de Sociologie, 31, pp. 529-551.
24.
Germain, A. and Rose, D. (2000) Montréal: The Quest for a Metropolis. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
25.
Gium (1984) Patrimoine résidentiel du grand Plateau Mont-Royal: Sondage des residents. Unpublished report, Montreal.
26.
Grimmeau, J.-P., Marissal, P. and Roelandts, M. (1994) Une carte de standing dans l'agglomération bruxelloise , Acta Geographica Lovaniensa, 34, pp. 351-359.
27.
Hamme, G. Van and Marissal, P. (2000) Les causes de la faible croissance économique de la Region de Bruxelles-Capitale. Report for the Government of the Brussels Capital Region, Brussels, IGEAT-ULB.
28.
HoLCoMB, H. B. and Beauregard, R. A. (Eds) (1981) Revitalizing Cities. Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers .
29.
Jones, G. (1987) Leaving the parental home: an analysis of early housing careers, Journal of Social Policy, 16, pp. 49-74.
30.
Kaa, D. Van De (1987) Europe's second demographic transition, Population Bulletin, 42, pp. 1-57.
31.
Kesteloot, C. (2000) Brussels: postfordist polarisation in a fordist spatial canvass, in: P. Marcuse and R. Van Kempen (Eds) Globalizing Cities: a New Spatial Order?, pp. 186-210. Oxford: Blackwell.
32.
Kesteloot C., Mistiaen, P. and Decroly, J.-M. (1998) La dimension spatiale de la pauvrete à Bruxelles. Indicateurs, causes et strategies locales de lutte contre la pauvrete, in: J. Vranken, B. Vanhercke and L. Carton (Eds) 20 ans CPAS: Vers une actualisation du projet de societe, pp. 123-153. Bruxelles : Acco Leuven/Amersfoort .
33.
Labelle, M. (1996) Analyse et gestion d'un projet global de revitalisation d'un quartier patrimonial du centre-ville: Le Vieux-Montreal. Unpublished MA thesis, UQAM, Montreal.
34.
Larsi (1985) Impact de la restauration dans les quartiers centraux de Montreal. Research report, UQAM, Montreal.
35.
Lees, L. (2000) A reappraisal of gentrification: towards a 'geography of gentrification', Progress in Human Geography, 24, pp. 397-408.
36.
Lestaeghe, R. (1995) La deuxieme transition demographique dans les pays occidentaux: une interpretation, in: D. Tabutin (Ed.) Transitions Démographiques et Sociétés, pp. 133-180. Louvain-la-Neuve : Academia; Paris: L'Harmattan.
37.
Ley, D. ( 1996) The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
38.
Lipietz, A. (1998) La société en sablier. Paris : La Decouverte.
39.
Marcuse, P. (1999) Comment on Elvin K. Wyly and Daniel J. Hammel's 'Islands of decay in seas of renewal: housing policy and the resurgence of gentrification', Housing Policy Debate, 10, pp. 789-797.
40.
Martinez, E. (1998) Organisation du travail, temps travailles et precarisation de 1'emploi, in: Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Belgian French-speaking Economists, pp. 205-222. Charleroi : CIFOP.
41.
Polèse, M. (1998) Montreal dans le systememonde: ville internationale ou metropole nordamericaine ?, in: C. Manzagol and C. R. Bryant (Eds) Montréal 2001. Visages et défis d'une metropole, pp. 65-79. Montreal : Presses de l'Universite de Montreal.
42.
Rose, D. (1984) Rethinking gentrification: beyond the uneven development of marxist urban theory, Environment and Planning D, 2, pp. 47-74.
43.
Rose, D. (1996) Economic restructuring and the diversification of gentrification in the 1980s: a view from a marginal metropolis, in: J. Caulfield and L. Peake (Eds) City Lives and City Forms: Critical Research and Canadian Urbanism, pp. 131-172. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
44.
Senegal, G. (1995) Le quartier Hochelaga-Maisonneuve àMontreal: le reamenagement d'une zone industrielle ancienne face à la nouvelle urbanite post-moderne, Le Geographe Canadien, 39, pp. 353-362.
45.
Senegal, P., Tremblay, C. and Teufel, D. (1991) Gentrification or Urban Sprawl? Central Montreal and Surrounding Area. Montreal: Societe d'Habitation du Quebec.
46.
Sennett, R. (1998) The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton.
47.
Slater, T. (2000) What is gentrification? ( www.gentrification.org).
48.
Smith, N. (1996) The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge .
49.
Société de Développement de Montreal ( 1998) Plan d'action pour Le Vieux-MontreaL. Montreal.
50.
Stapleton, C.M. (1980) Reformulation of the family life-cycle concept: implications for residential mobility, Environment and Planning A, 12, pp. 1103-1118.
51.
Vandermotten, C. (1999) Bruxelles dans la competition internationale, Revue Belge de Geographie, 66, pp. 17-29.
52.
Wyly, E.K. and Hammel, D.J. (1999) Islands of decay in seas of renewal: housing policy and the resurgence of gentrification, Housing Policy Debate , 10, pp. 711-771.
