For the benefit of all? State-led gentrification in a contested city

Yael Shmaryahu-Yeshurun and Guy Ben-Porat
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Yael Shmaryahu-Yeshurun: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Guy Ben-Porat: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Urban Studies, 2021, vol. 58, issue 13, 2605-2622

Abstract: Gentrification is not only an economic process based on individual desires and decisions and independent of political goals, but also a process led or assisted by governments with economic development and national goals. In this work, we study a state-led ethno-gentrification in Acre, a contested city in the north of Israel. Looking beyond the neoliberal terminology of regeneration, we argue that in contested cities gentrification is an economic development policy often intertwined with national-demographic goals. Yet, while economic and national motivations and policies may reinforce one another, they also produce tensions among policy makers, gentrifiers and local residents. ‘State-led ethno-gentrification’ presents the complexity of the relationship between neoliberalism and nationalism in a contested city. Interviews conducted in Acre with policy makers, Jewish newcomers involved in the gentrification process and Arab residents present a complex picture of goals, interests and concerns, as well as contradictions and tensions.

Keywords: contested cities; displacement/gentrification; Israel; policy; politics; race/ethnicity; nationalism; 被争夺的城市; é©±é€ /绅士化; 以色列; 政策; 政治; ç§ æ— /æ°‘æ—; æ°‘æ— ä¸»ä¹‰ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:13:p:2605-2622

DOI: 10.1177/0042098020953077

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