ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the connections that exist between the conflictive construction of identities and the gentrification processes promoted by the administrative sphere. It offers a brief timeline of the transformations undergone by the central market of Sofia since the 1990s. During the 1990s, the Women's Market was defined by the characteristics associated with the boom and expansion of markets in post-socialist cities, which emerged as the consequence of the shortage of formal employment, the adoption of consumption as a lifestyle and the destigmatisation of trade as a private profit-making activity. Sociability is one of the characteristics that most attention has drawn within the context of the study of markets. However, when it comes to ethnic and social diversity, there are different opinions about the potential of markets to encourage social and cultural exchange. Markets are often associated with cultural diversity, since they offer unique spaces for the convergence of diverse cultural groups.
