Gentle gentrification?: Urban renewal policies and socio-cultural transformations in Copenhagen

Description

This paper contrasts the stated intentions and actual outcomes of the publicly initiated and supported urban renewal of the Vesterbro (West Bridge) district of Copenhagen. Vesterbro is located near the central railway station and has for years been know as the red-light district of Copenhagen with a high concentration of socio-culturally 'vulnerable' people. Apart from a physical upgrading the building stock, some of the central aims of the urban renewal policy were to include the inhabitants in the decision processes and to prevent displacement of people from the neighbourhood. Did the policy succeed in creating a socio-culturally inclusive urban transformation? Or is the case of Vesterbro rather an example of 'gentle' gentrification - a Scandinavian articulation of state-led, neo-liberal 'general' gentrification?

Period	20 Apr 2007
Event title	Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers
Event type	Conference
Location	San Francisco, United StatesShow on map