New Peer-Reviewed article on New social movements and gentrification in Hamburg and Stockholm: A comparative study

A new article by Mats Franzén in Journal of Housing and the Built Environment

2005 New social movements and gentrification in Hamburg and Stockholm: A comparative study (in english) Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, Vol 20 No 1, p 51-77

Abstract
Ottesen and Söder(malm) are old inner-city, working-class districts in Hamburg and Stockholm, respectively. In both quarters, the class composition of the population has changed since the 1960s in favour of the middle class. Parellel to this, the housing stock has been upgraded in physical, economic and aesthetic terms. Thus, in both cases, a gentrification process may be discerned. However, Ottensen and Söder have become very different places; one reason may be the role that new social movements have played in the struggle for the urban environment.

The new social movements turned Ottensen into "The Alternative Quarter" (alternativer Stadtteil), and it is still known as such. This article shows how they did it and then compares Ottensen to the Söder case, where gentrification has gone deeper, particularly since the 1980s. Using Ottensen as a yardstick, the conditions are identified that made the new social movement less productive here in the struggle over space, despite the favourable conditions. The article thus foregrounds the differences in opportunity structures and the spaces available for the new social movements to reappropriate.

Keywords
Gentrification, Hamburg, New social movements, Production of space, Stockholm


>>> Till artikeln