Policy Press
Five Gentrification without social mixing in the rapidly urbanising world of Australasia
Abstract
Social mix strategies in Australia are almost invariably associated with the large-scale regeneration of public housing estates. These redevelopment projects usually occur as public-private partnerships and are funded in part by the sale of new-build private housing at market rates. The first of such schemes to be implemented in Melbourne, Australia, involved the displacement of about 1,000 public tenants and will produce a 50:50 mix of public and private dwellings. The project is not yet complete and the effects of the strategy have not been evaluated. Yet this has not prevented the initiation of at least three more public housing estate redevelopments in Melbourne, all of which will involve displacement, demolition, new construction and selective relocation back to an area ‘regenerated’ through a reduction in public and increase in private housing stock. The chapter argues that notwithstanding the rhetoric of the benefits of social mix, the primary object of this approach is to create new opportunities for private sector investment in high-risk areas in as clear a case of third-wave, state-led gentrification as could be. This approach is contrasted with the rather lower profile, state-wide ‘neighbourhood renewal program’, which involves state and local government investment in services and infrastructure in 19 ‘disadvantaged communities’, including some other public housing estates. The programme has no discourse of social mix, no displacement, regular monitoring and evaluation, and, so far, apparent success and community acceptance.
Abstract
Social mix strategies in Australia are almost invariably associated with the large-scale regeneration of public housing estates. These redevelopment projects usually occur as public-private partnerships and are funded in part by the sale of new-build private housing at market rates. The first of such schemes to be implemented in Melbourne, Australia, involved the displacement of about 1,000 public tenants and will produce a 50:50 mix of public and private dwellings. The project is not yet complete and the effects of the strategy have not been evaluated. Yet this has not prevented the initiation of at least three more public housing estate redevelopments in Melbourne, all of which will involve displacement, demolition, new construction and selective relocation back to an area ‘regenerated’ through a reduction in public and increase in private housing stock. The chapter argues that notwithstanding the rhetoric of the benefits of social mix, the primary object of this approach is to create new opportunities for private sector investment in high-risk areas in as clear a case of third-wave, state-led gentrification as could be. This approach is contrasted with the rather lower profile, state-wide ‘neighbourhood renewal program’, which involves state and local government investment in services and infrastructure in 19 ‘disadvantaged communities’, including some other public housing estates. The programme has no discourse of social mix, no displacement, regular monitoring and evaluation, and, so far, apparent success and community acceptance.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables, figures and photographs v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction: gentrification, social mix/ing and mixed communities 1
-
Reflections on social mix policy
- Why do birds of a feather flock together? Social mix and social welfare: a quantitative appraisal 17
- Social mix and urban policy 25
- Mixed communities and urban policy: reflections from the UK 35
- Gentrification without social mixing in the rapidly urbanising world of Australasia 43
-
Social mix in liberal and neoliberal times
- Social mixing and the historical geography of gentrification 53
- Social mix and encounter capacity – a pragmatic social model for a new downtown: the example of HafenCity Hamburg 69
-
Social mix policies and gentrification
- Mixed-income schools and housing policy in Chicago: a critical examination of the gentrification/education/‘racial’ exclusion nexus 95
- Social mix as the aim of a controlled gentrification process: the example of the Goutte d’Or district in Paris 115
- Beware the Trojan horse: social mix constructions in Melbourne 133
-
The rhetoric and reality of social mix policies
- Social mixing as a cure for negative neighbourhood effects: evidence-based policy or urban myth? 151
- Meanings, politics and realities of social mix and gentrification – a view from Brussels 169
- ‘Regeneration’ in interesting times: a story of privatisation and gentrification in a peripheral Scottish city 185
- HOPE VI: calling for modesty in its claims 209
-
Experiencing social mix
- The impossibility of gentrification and social mixing 233
- Not the only power in town? Challenging binaries and bringing the working class into gentrification research 251
- From social mix to political marginalisation? The redevelopment of Toronto’s public housing and the dilution of tenant organisational power 273
- Mixture without mating: partial gentrification in the case of Rotterdam, the Netherlands 299
- Afterword 319
- References 323
- Index 365
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables, figures and photographs v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction: gentrification, social mix/ing and mixed communities 1
-
Reflections on social mix policy
- Why do birds of a feather flock together? Social mix and social welfare: a quantitative appraisal 17
- Social mix and urban policy 25
- Mixed communities and urban policy: reflections from the UK 35
- Gentrification without social mixing in the rapidly urbanising world of Australasia 43
-
Social mix in liberal and neoliberal times
- Social mixing and the historical geography of gentrification 53
- Social mix and encounter capacity – a pragmatic social model for a new downtown: the example of HafenCity Hamburg 69
-
Social mix policies and gentrification
- Mixed-income schools and housing policy in Chicago: a critical examination of the gentrification/education/‘racial’ exclusion nexus 95
- Social mix as the aim of a controlled gentrification process: the example of the Goutte d’Or district in Paris 115
- Beware the Trojan horse: social mix constructions in Melbourne 133
-
The rhetoric and reality of social mix policies
- Social mixing as a cure for negative neighbourhood effects: evidence-based policy or urban myth? 151
- Meanings, politics and realities of social mix and gentrification – a view from Brussels 169
- ‘Regeneration’ in interesting times: a story of privatisation and gentrification in a peripheral Scottish city 185
- HOPE VI: calling for modesty in its claims 209
-
Experiencing social mix
- The impossibility of gentrification and social mixing 233
- Not the only power in town? Challenging binaries and bringing the working class into gentrification research 251
- From social mix to political marginalisation? The redevelopment of Toronto’s public housing and the dilution of tenant organisational power 273
- Mixture without mating: partial gentrification in the case of Rotterdam, the Netherlands 299
- Afterword 319
- References 323
- Index 365
