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10 - Living with diversity or living with difference? International perspectives on everyday perceptions of the social composition of diverse neighbourhoods
- Edited by Stijn Oosterlynck, Universiteit Antwerpen, Gert Verschraegen, Universiteit Antwerpen, Ronald van Kempen, Universiteit Utrecht
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- Book:
- Divercities
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 19 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 19 December 2018, pp 211-234
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Summary
Introduction
Living with social differences and all the encounters, conflicts and transgressions this entails is a constituent part of urban living (see, for example, Amin, 2002; Massey, 2005). With increasing regional and global migration, the level and complexity of social differences seems to have reached a new height, as has been highlighted by work claiming that urban societies have become super- or hyper-diversified (Vertovec 2007; Tasan-Kok et al, 2014). Identities have become more fluid and urban social compositions more complex. The experience of living in large cities and metropolises constitutes the background of a new emphasis on engaging with difference from a diversity perspective.
If this quality is new, does it generate a new normality of living together? Is any notion of this multiplicity of social characteristics present in how people see and judge the social composition of their neighbourhood? Drawing from qualitative interviews with inhabitants in three European cities – Athens, Paris and Leipzig – we aim to understand how people live with diversity in less privileged neighbourhoods. Empirically, we examine how people describe the social groups in their area along two guiding questions:
1. What categories or combinations do inhabitants use to construct social groupings and their relation to place?
2. Which normative assessments about a group's presence in the neighbourhood are accepted and which are contested?
We employ a social differences perspective inspired by intersectionality theory to interpret these data and to understand how inhabitants of such increasingly heterogeneous neighbourhoods perceive, describe and judge their social environment. We show that in all three cities inhabitants’ perceptions are replete with stereotypes of intersecting social group identities. Distinctions first and foremost lie at the intersection of characteristics (like income, ethnicity, age and gender), which serve as the basis for expressions of closeness, distance and stigmatisation. In our view, the intersectionality approach offers a strong starting point for their analysis, although it gives less consideration to the variety of differences such as orientations, values or the duration of residence in a neighbourhood.
Social difference from a conceptual perspective
Terms and concepts addressing social heterogeneity
In theories on social inequalities various paradigms have been employed to make sense of social heterogeneity. Heterogeneity – as opposed to homogeneity – is a descriptive term conveying that there are differences between people.
Two - Unravelling the yarn of gentrification trends in the contested inner city of Athens
- Edited by Loretta Lees, University of Leicester, Hyun Bang Shin, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Ernesto López-Morales, Universidad de Chile
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- Book:
- Global Gentrifications
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 04 March 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 January 2015, pp 19-36
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Summary
Introduction
Gentrification as a word per se does not exist in the Greek language. The word ϵζϵυγϵνισμός (exevgenismós) is used in order to describe the process of gentrification. This word is actually the outcome of academic efforts to transfer/translate the word gentrification into the Greek vocabulary. The meaning of this word is rather confusing; in Greek ϵυγϵνικός (evgenikós), means ‘gentle’. Gentle is related to ϵυγϵνής (evgenís), which refers to nobility and/or ‘being noble’. Hence, the Greek term could be understood as ‘a gentle process of the gentry’. As there is nothing gentle to the gentrification process, I prefer to use the English word ‘gentrification’, which is highly political (see Davidson and Lees, 2005; Slater, 2006), instead of the neutral Greek equivalent. The Greek media and academics use both the English and the Greek words. Activists and artists use mostly the English ‘gentrification’ rather than the Greek term, while local Athenians, although very well informed about the process, use none of these words. They prefer verbal combinations, like urban regeneration or renovation; however, they are surprised when it is explained that there is an English word that underlines the social injustice of the process.
There is one well-documented case of gentrification in Athens – that is, the neighbourhood called Plaka, which is situated at the foot of the Acropolis (Sarigiannis, 2000; Kaftantzoglou, 2001). In the late 1980s, the Ministry of Culture appropriated properties to preserve their cultural heritage and the Ministry of Planning simultaneously proceeded to pedestrianise the area, impose planning restrictions and prohibit vehicle circulation. Land prices increased, the former impoverished residents were evicted and the new land uses were mostly related to the tourist industry. Nowadays, the new residential clientele mostly consists of the upper-middle classes and every visitor to Athens is invited to walk through the picturesque streets of Plaka. In this chapter, I argue that there are other cases of gentrification in Athens. By the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, the rent gap expansion through underutilisation, as characterised by Shin (2009a) when researching gentrification in South Korea, provided prime opportunities for commercial gentrification in Athens.