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Gentrifiers' Agency: Typology and Analysis

Civil Society
Political Theory
Ethics
Normative Theory
Merav Kaddar
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Merav Kaddar
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Abstract

This paper advances our understanding of urban agency by suggesting a novel typology of the inward urban migrants involved in gentrification processes. Although this paper is focused on gentrifiers, the suggested typology of gentrifier’s agency could be easily applied to other city dwellers, and highlight urban behaviors and the reasons for them. Agency is a well-used term in urban literature by now, especially in gentrification literature which emphasizes the role of incomers in upgrading the urban environment, terming a new urban agency, that of a ‘gentrifier’. However, most theories fail to address gentrifiers as individual agents, with different perceptions, moral stances, aims and dispositions. This research examines the intersection of these two aspects of agency: dispositions and practices. It shows that when we attend to the ways gentrifiers regard themselves, we discover that their normative self-perception can change practices. The conceptual work in this paper is based on a field work carried out in urban environments in south Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel during 2013-7, comprised of interviews and ethnographic observations. Interestingly, the typology corresponds with two of the most prominent debates in gentrification literature: (1) the production vs. consumption debate, and (2) the moral problem with gentrification. The difference in gentrifiers' acts, or agency, I argue, is a result of how they perceive the urban processes around them and what is their moral disposition towards those. These two axes yield four ideal types of gentrifier’s agency, which differ on their urban and everyday practices.