Abstract
Henri Lefebvre’s invocation of a ‘right to the city’ is both an aspiration as to what urban societies can and should be and a challenge to resist and overcome impediments to attaining that result. In an age of gentrification, such impediments can be found in market forces fueled by enhanced flows of capital and state policy, as Lefebvre presciently saw in the ideology of urbanism. Accordingly, as a practical matter the right to the city has become a rallying cry to limit or mitigate the urban displacement set in motion thereby, with its emphasis squarely upon the problem posed by the high cost and increasing lack of affordability of housing. The case for it in the United States has been reframed largely as the cause, as activists in Somerville, Massachusetts have put it, for ‘development without displacement’. This paper examines the link between the theoretical framework laid out by Lefebvre and the current activist application of the right to the city, as well as the historical and economic circumstances that set them apart, which includes the bases underlying the transformation of the value of urban space. For empirical evidence this paper draws upon the gentrification of Somerville, once a largely working-class community, where the average housing price has tripled in a generation.
Presenters
Michael H. TurkProfessor Emeritus, Department of Economics, History, and Political Science, Fitchburg State University, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Henri Lefebvre, The Right To The City, Gentrification, Urbanism, Displacement
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