ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the differential relationship between social class and place in the cities and suburbs of the global North. It focusses on place attachment and belonging to the residential neighbourhood with reference to the working class, middle classes and the super-rich. The chapter begins by examining the industrial and post-industrial working-class relationship to the neighbourhood and this includes a discussion of the notion of community. The middle classes have a complex relationship to the neighbourhood encompassing various mixtures of spatial mobilities and place belonging, as encapsulated by the influential concepts of “elective belonging” and “selective belonging”. The super-rich represent the apex of global rootlessness, sealed off from the neighbourhoods where the 99% live. Despite their hyper-mobility, the super-rich tend to have homes in certain global cities and their presence can have major impacts on existing social relations and notions of place.
