Ethnic Identity, Place Marketing, and Gentrification in ... - Cities Centre

2. "Culture" and "Economics" in GentrificationNo other dualism has affected the course of urban studies during the past 15 years morethan the one posed by culture and economics (Barnes, 2003; Lees, 2002; Ley, 1996;Mitchell, 1993 and 1999; Walker, 1997). Cultural studies have deeply influenced the methodologicalapproaches and subject matter of the discipline, not only by challenging the emphasison quantitative methods, but also (perhaps more importantly) by challenging theeconomism of past urban studies (Barnes. 2003; Mitchell, 1999; Walker, 1997). The latter includednot only mainstream economics but also radical political economy that deployed a different,though sometimes equally economistic (and often universalistic) epistemology in thestudy of cities. But this approach began to change in the 1980s and 1990s, as a recognitionof the importance and constitutive power of culture began to take hold.Central to this shift has been the recognition of culture as a meaningful- rather than structurallyresidual - factor in the production of urban spaces. Culture is seen as a constitutivefeature by itself, and a spate of urban studies have explored the role of culture in the productionof cities during the past decade (see Mitchell, 1999. for a review of these articles).But as Mitchell (1993) was quick to pOint out over a decade ago. it is not a matter of simplyadding culture as a extra autonomous variable in the study of cities. Treating culture as anexplanatory variable in the production of landscapes can sometimes downplay the ways inwhich culture is deliberately produced by economic interests to increase the circulation ofcapital.Mitchell explored how the ethos of multiculturalism had been deployed and carefully managedby wealthy Hong Kong real estate interests to justify the hyper-valuation of real estatemarkets in Vancouver. British Columbia. Her article suggested that it is important not to assumethat culture is either completely organic or completely autonomous in the production ofurban landscapes.This paper explores the relationship between produced culture and economics in the gentrificationof ethnically defined inner-city neighbourhoods. Gentrification - the reinvestment inurban space for the use of an affluent clientele - has been one of the most divisive testinggrounds for studying the relative influence of culture and economics on the construction oflandscapes (Barnes, 2003). So divisive has this dualism been that one geographer famouslyCentre for Urban and Community Studies. University of Toronto. www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca