Field research in Rotterdam

After having research Antwerp, we set off to investigate the process of gentrification in Rotterdam. Unlike the research day in Antwerp, the weather was beautiful which gave us the opportunity to really interview many people.

We started in the Kop van Zuid area, an area recently transformed from a derelict warehouse district to a lively work/living center in the city. It houses the headquarters of the Rotterdam port authority, a theater, luxury living as well as some social housing and restaurants. In the pictures below you can see how this area now looks, as well as the plans for the completely finished area.

After Kop van Zuid, we went on to explore Katendrecht. This area, which was up to recently a no-go zone with many abandoned warehouses and almost exclusively working class inhabitants, has over the last decade transformed into a much more upscale area, with new shops, new squares and especially a new type of inhabitant popping up on the streets. Pictures of this, in which this development is clearly visible, can be found underneath.

Continuing from Katendrecht, we went to the area Bospolder-Tussendijken. There we found that a whole neighborhood was being rebuild, and the only thing that was left at the river bank was a small cafe, still standing in the middle of all the newly constructed buildings.

The rest of the district was completely revitalized. All new buildings, and along with it new inhabitants, dominate the area and therewith almost drive the old inhabitants out. 

An article by Snel et al. (2011) discusses these pressures and forces, using both definitions by Grier & Grier (1978) as well as additions to it (on exclusionary displacement and displacement pressure) by Marcuse (1986). If you want to find more of this, feel free to read his article:

The struggle to belong. Dealing with diversity in 21st century urban settings. Snel et. al (2011)

Antwerp - a new hegemony

In order to get some background in Antwerp's development, and specifically the development of the Schipperskwartier district, we read an article by the geographer Maarten Loopmans (2008). In his article, he describes the development of the cities urban policies in light of Gramsci. Gramsci says that there are 2 criteria that facilitate the establishment of a new hegemony in a city: legitimacy and co-ordination. Loopmans adapts this via, and says that since the end of the old hegemony that ruled Antwerp, around 1960-1970, the city tried to search for new ways to establish a hegemony (or an anti-hegemonic movement with the same result). However, due to either a failure of legitimacy, or due to the absence of co-ordination between private parties, the inhabitants and the government, many of these projects failed.
In the beginning of the 2000's, luckily, a new initiative under the flag of VESPA did succeed in achieving both this legitimacy and this co-ordination.

If you want to read further on this topic, you can read:
Loopmans, M. (2008) Relevance, Gentrification and the Development of a New Hegemony on Urban Policies in Antwerp, Belgium. Urban Studies

Field research in Antwerp

After walking around Antwerp in a rainy day, we experienced a lot of practical confrontations with the workings of gentrification within a city. As Maarten Loopmans (2008) described in his paper on a new hegemony in Antwerp, the Schipperskwartier went through the process of gentrification, and still is going through it as we speak. This is clearly visible in looking at the number of buildings being renovated, rebuild and redeveloped. The pictures that follow will give you a good overview of these processes

But there was more. Once we visited the stadsarchief, we saw how the gentrification in Antwerp was actually planned in Antwerp, and how the government worked as an actor in this process. An employee of this archive helped us in understanding the dynamics in which the city operated, and regenerated this run down prostitute area. The following pictures clarify these statements

After visiting the stadsarchief, we went to the Stadsmagazijn, a community center in the middle of the neighborhood where different cultures come and meet up, over language classes and community workshops. This to promote multiculturalism, and to let everyone feel at home in the new Schipperskwartier.
After a long day of interviewing, walking through the neighborhood and making pictures, we returned to Middelburg and started analyzing the material collected. Eventually, this resulted in a part of the research paper.