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Resistance, Response

and Reimagination

How can the public good be addressed in the contemporary redevelopment of post-industrial landscapes to benefit those disproportionately negatively affected?

Examining the relationship between deindustrialization, gentrification and displacement requires embedding analysis of social justice issues within gentrification research and urban policy making in order to reframe traditional understandings of property, its commodification, ownership and exchange value. This in turn, requires radical, optimistic thinking, thinking that offers a counter narrative to Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction, and replacing it instead with a new and potentially more profound narrative, built on what sociologist Ulrich Beck calls creative construction.

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Creative construction is the besieging of what exists with provocative alternatives in which the amazing new alternative brings pressure to bear on the existing system of beliefs, putting it to the test both intellectually and politically.

J. Meehan, Reinventing Real Estate:
The Community Land Trust as a Social Invention in Affordable Housing

Such thinking must be applied to address the impacts of urban displacement in the context of deindustrialization and gentrification, to create more inclusive cities capable of addressing growing inequalities and to ensure that the voices of those most affected by these processes remain active, not only in constructing the present, but in shaping a better, albeit uncertain, future.

Copyright Statement:
All of the photographs, text and other content on this website, as well as its overall design are copyright © Seana Irvine, except for any material provided by 3rd parties in which case the originator retains the copyright and the item is credited. All rights reserved.

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