ABSTRACT
The imagery of gentrification, whether in Australia, Britain or the United States, is so powerful today that it is easy to forget how recently this process has become part of the landscape of the city. The terminology of opportunity“ripe for renovation,” “bursting with promise,” “original features,” and “period charm” – has awakened many to the rich harvest to be gathered in the inner city. Twenty-five years earlier, the language and the locale were entirely different. Talk was of modernity, latest design and simple efficiency, and our attention was on suburbia as the finest expression of urban living, with fresh air and open space, country views and easy access. For many the suburbs remain the dream, and outward spread remains the reality for virtually all metropolitan areas in whatever country. At the same time, gentrification has all the signs of being acclaimed a universal process, albeit varying in scale and importance. Indeed such has been the enthusiasm of scholars to “discover” its occurrence that we now have worldwide reports of “sightings,” even though our understanding of this process and its various forms is quite limited. Certainly the same signs of selective social and physical change can be observed in the cities of many advanced capitalist societies, but that can only form the starting point of any evaluation.
