Sociodemographic changes of urban renewal. gentrification and new processes of invasion and succession in Barcelona

Gemma Vila, Universitat de Barcelona

The research analyzes the processes of gentrification that have occurred in Barcelona in recent years, focusing on the relations between urban reform and the strategies of the housing market as main explanatory elements. Specifically, the paper analyzes the changes that have occurred in the characteristics of the population living in the areas of gentrification and the invasion and succession patters that have taken place in these areas. Gentrification designates a process of social and urban change. The areas of the city that have historically undergone urban degradation and that have been occupied mostly by low-income socioeconomic groups are transformed by rehabilitation, which entails the urban renewal of the zone, increased housing prices and the expulsion and substitution of the social groups that previously lived there by other better-educated groups with greater purchasing power. The research analyzes the specific case of Barcelona, which has become a clear example of the processes of gentrification. Two hypotheses have guided the research. First, the urban reforms that have been carried out in the city in recent years have resulted in gentrification as a major social effect in particular areas and this has had a domino effect on the city as a whole. Second, Barcelona has combined two different models of urban renewal, one macro and the other micro, and these have generated different types of gentrification. The paper focuses on the features and the dynamics of both processes.