The Next Wave of Gentrification : A Study of Conceptual Models of Gentrification

Abstract

Gentrification is now one of the main forces shaping the built environment around the world. For the last twenty years, globalization has been a cornerstone of understanding gentrification in both the new frontiers of the 'global South' and the familiar 'global cities'. At the same time, connections between the global South and global cities have become deeper and faster, facilitating the migration of population, capital, and culture. This research is a theoretical exploration of the concepts defining gentrification. This is the framework through which gentrification is understood and policies promoting and preventing gentrification are developed. A review of early conceptual models is followed by a discussion of key concepts of 21st-century gentrification: third and fourth wave gentrification, gentrification as a global urban strategy, gentrification as a new urban colonialism, and super gentrification. Those concepts, viewed in combination and in light of new understandings of globalization, economics, and policy mobility, suggest new possible gentrifications and new ways of understanding current gentrification practices.