ABSTRACT
This small chapter serves to share with the reader how people have constructed notions of authentic best selfhood at the group level by showing how previous urban studies literature has recorded authenticity’s relationship with community development, specifically in terms of performance. It includes examples from previous scholarship that show that while the exact details vary, authenticity-based campaigns share common objectives (power assertion), processes (nostalgia-based narrative shaping), and outcomes (neighbourhood change or displacement). Three themes emerge from the literature: (1) the rhetoric of authenticity is a powerful force that can become enshrined before changes to the built environment; (2) the authenticity project can take place at any social scale and made visible through a particular group, sometimes via paternalistic processes; and (3) seeking authenticity by itself does not ensure justice—often the reverse occurs. Planners must better understand how authenticity works in urban development to protect against authenticity-related social inequality.
