THE ‘BUOYANCY’ OF ‘OTHER’ GEOGRAPHIES OF GENTRIFICATION: GOING ‘BACK‐TO‐THE WATER’ AND THE COMMODIFICATION OF MARGINALITY

Darren P. Smith

Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 2007, vol. 98, issue 1, 53-67

Abstract: This paper focuses on the motives underpinning the formation and (re)production of a marginal social group residing in houseboats within Shoreham‐by‐Sea, South‐east England. It is contended that the ‘boat‐people’ represent a unique example of going back‐to‐the‐water, which is tied to a predilection for a self‐sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, anti‐consumerism, a sense of community, and closeness to nature and natural elements. The discussion points to the importance of idyllic rural representations of the South Downs, which render positive cultural readings of the river, coast, water and tides. It is also noted that the houseboats provide an economic ‘loop‐hole’ into the wider gentrified housing markets of Brighton and Hove. Focusing on recent socio‐cultural and economic transformations, and linked to the regulation and commodification of the alternative lifestyles and living arrangements, the case study provides an example of the ‘purification’ of manufactured, atypical gentrified spaces. The findings therefore disrupt ideas of gentrification being synonymous with conventional residential spaces, and extend understandings of the diversity of ‘other’ geographies of gentrification to more fully embrace sociocultural marginality.

Date: 2007
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