Week 10 Topic 10A
Gentrification and heritage
Meghan Choo
644640
In 1964, Ruth Glass defined gentrification as a phenomenon or
process originating from London, in which middle-class families moved into
working-class suburbs for residential or commercial purposes (Moreh, 2011, p.
4). This led to the rise in property values, resulting in the displacement of
working-class residents and communities who can no longer afford to live there (Sheppard, n.d., p.
3). This essay will explore the different dimensions of gentrification through the
examples of Silicon Valley, Fitzroy and Mexico City, while positing that
gentrification morphed into a more complex concept to define, due to its
dependence each unique contextual setting (Betancur, 2014, p. 9).
In Silicon Valley, San Francisco, construction of skyscrapers
began since the 1960s (Kloc, 2014). The building of iconic monuments such as
the Transamerica Pyramid in 1968 (Transamerica Corporation, 2014), put Silicon
Valley on the map, consequently increasing property prices. In fact, by the 1970s,
property values especially in areas where skyscrapers were predominantly
located, spiked (Kloc, 2014).
Today, the technological boom has
led to the influx of tech companies in the Valley, bringing along high-income workers,
leading to an amplified version of the 1970s’ property valuation spikes. In a
year, Silicon Valley saw eviction rates increase by 115% (Zuccaro, 2015). The
unique circumstance faced by Silicon Valley is its small area (Kloc, 2014;
Zuccaro, 2015). Therefore As new tech companies move in, followed by their
well-paid workers, its effects would be felt more greatly than in a bigger area.
Therefore, the limited area of Silicon Valley and the dominance of technology
in this area forces residents to either adapt to this new landscape of jobs, or
remain unable to cope with the expensive interests of these higher paid workers
and thus move out. The displaced will be forced to relocate to more affordable
(and often less desirable) environments such as Downtown Palo Alto, with badly
tainted reputations (Cutler, 2015). Today, with the construction of iconic
buildings such as Facebook’s Headquarters built by Frank Gehry in Palo Alto
(Johnson, 2014), the outlook for Palo Alto’s future property prices seem to
mirror that of the Valley in the 60s (Cutler, 2015). The fame of the building, while
useful for reversing Palo Alto’s negative image, would have negative
consequences on the affordability of property there in the next decade, similar
to the trend in 1960s.
Thus, Silicon Valley is an example of how economic trends and
development has played, and continues to play, a large part in gentrification
of an area. However, while gentrification might give an area better economic status
(Palo Alto), it might be doing so at the expense of its longtime residents.
Fitzroy is another example of the important role of economy in
gentrification, but also demonstrates how gentrification trends mirror social and
cultural trends (Nichols et al., 2014, p. 161; University of Melbourne, 2008). Fitzroy
is similar to Silicon Valley in that gentrification in the 1960s was influenced
by enconomic drivers (The University of Melbourne, 2008). However, the
similarity between Fitzroy and Silicon Valley ends there, as Fitzroy today sees
a more cultural rather than economic theme of activities (Nichols et al., 2014,
p. 166). Originally a wealthy suburb, Fitzroy began to decline in the 20th
century due to the Great Depression, and it has only been recently, after the
culture brought about by Italian immigrants (The University of Melbourne, 2008),
that its popularity as a lifestyle suburb for intellectuals and the like
(Nichols et al., 2014, p. 162), began to rise back up, resulting in the given
increasing property values that come with it. Fitzroy demonstrates that culture
and trend can inherently be linked to create new interests and activities. It
also represents the notion that gentrification follows a cyclical trend of urbanised
areas, intrinsic to the interests of middle class gentrifiers, and that
gentrifiers are simply enabling agents that materialise their perceived
potential of an area (Betancur, 2014, p. 4).
Heritage
tourism launches an area into a process of transformation, increasing rental
for homeowners and businesses in the area. A good example of this is the case
of the renovation project of Mexico City’s Historic Centre (Betancur, 2014, p.
6), which threatened the jobs of existing vendors to be replaced by more historically
constructed developments. Heritage tourism can be viewed as a paradox. In
marketing a Mexico City’s preservation of historical monuments, it causes job
gentrification when street vendors are forced out (Betancur, 2014, p. 7). By
displacing previous job owners, heritage tourism in turn desecrates the
character of the area (Nichols et al., 2014, p. 160). Protests against
gentrification on the basis of heritage, however, brings forward another
discourse. That of whose heritage deserves greater stakes to a place (Nichols
et al., 2014, p. 163). Anti-gentrification on the basis of heritage
preservation gives the existing habitants of gentrified neighbourhoods a sense
of entitlement to the space (Nichols et al., 2014, p. 164; Sheppard, n.d., p.
2), when they might not have earned it.
This links back to the example in Mexico City, when original vendors
protested rennovations on the basis that their history was more authentic
(Betancur, 2014, p. 6). Hence by analysing gentrification through the
perspective of heritage ‘preservation,’ the deeper complexities of gentrification
are revealed: what criteria justifies inhabitants’/users’ claims to a place, if
conflicting interests in use of a space ensue? Another issue that this example
highlights is the agenda behind heritage preservation. Is there an intellectual
criteria that determines what should be preserved and what should be removed
from a gentrified area? Finally, this example demonstrates that gentrification is
not necessarily limited to housing, but can be related to the usurpation of
lower-income businesses as well.
This essay has suggested that gentrification
is becoming increasingly prevalent, and as a result of being linked to different
issues such as heritage, is becoming more complicated due to its increasing
layers of discourse. It is also important to consider the unpredictable nature
of gentrification as a cycle, and that in the future, gentrifiers might become
the displaced population, as shown by the cyclic trends in Fitzroy. It should
be acknowledged that this essay is severely limited in scope, as three cities
are not useful tools in defining gentrification. These example
cities/neighbourhoods are, however, each different in characteristics, and
therefore well demonstrate the idea that gentrification is not limited to just
a single set of circumstances but unique to each context, which explains its
complexity. The varying resultant landscapes in the examples in this essay have
also shown that gentrification can lead to diverse effects, despite the
seemingly common outcome of displacement.
References
Betancur, JJ, 2014, ‘Gentrification in Latin America:
overview and critical analysis,’Urban
Studies Research, vol. 2014, pp. 1-15.
Business Week 2006, ‘The Transamerica Pyramid: hallmark of
innovation, strength and commitment,’ Business
Week, vol. 2006, pp. 1-3.
Cutler, KM 2015, East of Palo Alto’s Eden: race and the
formation of Silicon Valley, viewed 10 May 2015,
Johnson, R 2014, Exclusive photos of Facebook's sprawling new
hq, designed Frank Gehry
Kloc, J 2014, Tech boom forces a ruthless gentrification in
San Francisco, viewed 10 May 2015,
Lowering the Tone 2013, State Government ban on pollies meeting
at housing estates lifted, viewed 10 May 2015,
Luong, QT 2004, Aerial view of Downtown Palo Alto, viewed 10
May 2015,
Moreh, C
2011, ‘Gentrification and urban heritage: the case of Albayzín,’ Central European University, pp. 1- 81
(thesis).
Museum Victoria 2009, High rise housing in Melbourne:
Atherton Gardens Estate, Fitzroy, viewed 10 May 2015,
Sheppard, S
n.d., ‘Why is gentrification a problem?’ Centre
for Creative Development, Williams College, Massachusetts.
Transamerica Corporation 2014, The Pyramid, viewed 10 May
2015, <https://www.transamerica.com/individual/about-us/who-we-are/the-pyramid/>.
Transamerica Corporation 2015, Transamerica Pyramid Centre,
viewed 10 May 2015,
UNESCO World Heritage site 2015, Historic centre of Mexico
City and Xochimilco, viewed 10 May 2015,
The University of Melbourne 2008, Fitzroy, viewed 10 May
2015,
Zuccaro, A 2015, How San Francisco gentrification is
affecting milennials, viewed 10 May 2015,
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