Introduction

This chapter suggests that the systematic ways in which governments and landlords seek to remove unwanted segments of the population from (inner) cities or prevent them from moving in, with or without subsequent gentrification, is the defining factor of contemporary urban injustice. While displacement became less of an issue in some of the literature of gentrification, critical scholars have brought gentrification, both empirically and conceptually, to new terrains. The dominance of the concept of gentrification has not only hindered a potential focus on its flipside displacement but it has also hindered the study of the occurrence of poor cleansing from a long-term historical perspective. The chapter aims to further our understanding of the underlying power relations. It believes a significant enrichment of the concept of displacement is necessary for reasons. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.