ABSTRACT
It has been suggested that while gentrification was first identified as such in Europe, specifically in London (Glass 1964), gentrification theory has been disproportionately based on the US experience, and European gentrification may not fit the theoretical arguments quite so neatly. The US itself may be an exception. By way of corollary, it has also been suggested that it may not be possible even to derive useful generalizations concerning the different experiences of gentrification in different cities and different neighborhoods. Local specificities overwhelm any possible generalizations. Since the preceding chapters have focused primarily on the US experience, in this chapter we shall look at the experience of gentrification in three European cities. The overarching question concerns the extent to which transcontinental generalizations are apt, indeed the extent to which any generalizations can be made concerning gentrification.
