Moving beyond Marcuse: Gentrification, displacement and the violence of un-homing

Abstract

Displacement has become one of the most prominent themes in contemporary geographical debates, used to describe processes of dispossession and forced eviction at a diverse range of scales. Given its frequent deployment in studies describing the consequences of gentrification, this paper seeks to better define and conceptualise displacement as a process of un-homing, noting that while gentrification can prompt processes of eviction, expulsion and exclusion operating at different scales and speeds, it always ruptures the connection between people and place. On this basis – and recognising displacement as a form of violence – this paper concludes that the diverse scales and temporalities of displacement need to be better elucidated so that their negative emotional, psychosocial and material impacts can be more fully documented, and resisted.

The social cleansing of London council estates: everyday experiences of ‘accumulative dispossession’

“…Social cleansing can be understood as a geographical project made up of processes, practices, and policies designed to remove council tenants from space and place. Social cleansing is scalar (from the individual to whole council estates) and operates along a continuum of percolating violence that can be slow but also at times very fast (see Elliot-Cooper et al, 2019). Since 2010 there have been a number of commentaries by geographers and others on the privatization of council housing, housing benefit cuts and welfare reforms, which points to the residualization of council housing and dispossession of the poor (e.g.…”

A New Conceptual Framework for Understanding Displacement: Bridging the Gaps in Displacement Literature between the Global South and the Global North

“…Another approach to redress this divide is through planetary lenses for analyzing urban processes involving displacement. Scholars have deployed feminist theories and positioned “un-homing” as the phenomenon about which they are theorizing (Elliott-Cooper, Hubbard, and Lees 2020; Lancione 2019; Fernández Arrigoitia 2014; Nowicki 2018; Baxter and Brickell 2014). By doing so, they have succeeded in assembling displacement events in the Global North and South alike while also attending to the different contexts of those events.…”

“…By doing so, they have succeeded in assembling displacement events in the Global North and South alike while also attending to the different contexts of those events. Elliott-Cooper et al (2020) position displacement and the violence of un-homing as the focal point around which new readings of gentrification are necessitated. Their conceptualization addresses “the diverse scales and temporalities of displacement demonstrated in various locations” and also suggests an emotional–psychological standpoint to succeed in framing them together.…”

After Gentrification: Social Mix, Settler Colonialism, and Cruel Optimism in the Transformation of Neighbourhood Space

“…While there may be disagreement over how this “lived process of loss” (Roy :A3) actually manifests itself, it typically involves “being physically eliminated or displaced, having one's cultural practices erased, [and] being ‘absorbed', ‘assimilated' or ‘amalgamated' in the wider population” (Veracini :2). Displacement does not simply revolve around forced eviction (Davidson ; Elliott‐Cooper et al ). It involves the incremental marginalisation of modes of life and the building of different social relations that are recognised and legitimated in revitalising neighbourhoods (Hyra ; Madden and Marcuse ).…”

“…But on a certain level, uncomfortable truths need to be confronted. Terrains of resistance need to be reimagined and alternative scales and temporalities of displacement and resistance must be considered (see Elliott‐Cooper et al ). Physical displacement is a widely studied phenomenon by both academics and concerned publics engaging in activist work to promote alternative projects founded upon some conception of a “just city”.…”