Degentrification? Different Aspects of Gentrification before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Soyoung Han, Cermetrius Lynell Bohannon and Yoonku Kwon
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Soyoung Han: College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Cermetrius Lynell Bohannon: College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Yoonku Kwon: Department of Landscape Architecture, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the aspects of “gentrification” and “degentrification” other than economic factors. To this end, this study focused on the gentrification situations occurring before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the Itaewon area, South Korea, by using semantic network analysis. We analyzed news articles on the gentrification phenomenon in the Itaewon area reported in South Korea. As a result, gentrification in the Itaewon area is divided into four stages. The first stage of gentrification (2010~2014) is initial stage of gentrification. Gentrification stage 2 (2015~2017) is the period of commercialization as a gentrification growth stage. The first stage of degentrification (2018~2019) is the maturation period of gentrification. The second stage of degentrification (2019~30 June 2020) is the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirm the existing theoretical frameworks while building a more nuanced definition through operationalizing gentrification and degentrification. As with the etymology of the term, the degentrification phenomenon can only be revealed when the gentrification phenomenon is prominently displayed. This study has an implication in that it tried to phenomenologically examine the specific phenomenon of the next stage of gentrification through the term “degentrification”.

Keywords: gentrification; degentrification; COVID-19; Itaewon; Seoul; semantic network analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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