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Asunto: | [CeHuNews] 4/11 - Conference: The Geographical Imagination | Fecha: | Martes, 10 de Mayo, 2011 01:13:14 (-0300) | Autor: | CeHu News <news @..............org>
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CeHuNews 4/11
Dear
all,
RGS-IBG 2011 Conference:
The Geographical Imagination
31st
August - 2nd September 2011
(London)
Gentrification in the Global South:
Dilapidation,
Obsolescence and Land Exploitation
Organisers: Dr Hyun Bang
Shin (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics)
h.b.shin@lse.ac.ukDr Ernesto
López-Morales (Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Chile)
elopez@uchilefau.cl
Summary:
The
proposed session aims to examine how gentrification as an urban phenomenon is
played out outside the domain of the European and North Atlantic regions. In
particular, we invite contributions that address the production of gentrifiable
properties and areas through the interaction between obsolescence (fall of
exchange value) and dilapidation (decrease in the use value), reinforced by the
re-appreciation of landed value and rent gap exploitation. Dilapidation may
occur as a result of physical deterioration caused by either deliberate
actions/inactions by property-owners or state institutions (e.g. redlining or
blockbusting). Obsolescence, on the other hand, may result from changes in the
preference for a particular building style or aesthetic tastes, but
increasingly, it is the deliberate acts of market agents that affect the
artificial decline of the exchange value. As these processes of devaluation take
place, they produce waves of displacement and eventually eviction, prompting
potential urban segregation. Although the public policy usually sees the
construction of > '> trendy> '> commercial buildings as a
neighbourhood > '> saviour> '> , this form of urban production
overshadows existing buildings and often leads to the obsolescence of the
latter, prompting a further chain reaction of redevelopment that aims at higher
rates of financial gains.
In the Global North, obsolescence is said to
concentrate on areas with the highest return on investment in a market that has
been increasingly entwined with the global financial capital. In the Global
South, the question seems to centre on the extent to which the state and market
agents (at local, regional or national level) interact with each other to boost
property-led redevelopment and create a series of market incentives to attract
(globalised) financial capital. These activities often rampantly bypass
mechanisms of social participation and political accountability.
In this
regard, we aim to explore these issues in relation to the cities in the Global
South, with reference to (but not limited to) cities in Asia and Latin America.
We expect to establish a platform for a dialogue among researchers in order to
shed light on how gentrification can be understood and experienced against the
backdrop of its very political, economic and social roots. This, we expect,
would contribute to the restoration of a debate that has been > '>
evicted> '> from the global academia . We welcome papers that
address issues like (but are not confined to):
* Usefulness
and applicability of > '> gentrification> '> as a conceptual
framework for the study of cities in the Global South; *
Usefulness and applicability of > '> neoliberalism> '> in the
way it is established out of the North Atlantic realities, for the study of
gentrification in cities in the Global South; * The role of
state institutions and market agents in relation to neighbourhood changes; *
The role of global (real estate and/or financial) capital in urban
development and real estate projects in the Global South;> *
Socio-political issues arising from these processes, insofar as the state
involvement becomes crucial for redevelopment * Examples of
urban strategies that produce dilapidation and obsolescence; *
Displacement and eviction; * Methodological and conceptual
challenges pertinent to urban contexts in the Global South
-
--
Dr. Ernesto López
Departamento de Urbanismo
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