'Social Mixing' or 'Gentrification'? Contradictory Perspectives on Urban Change in the Berlin District of Neukölln

In the past two decades, the Berlin district of Neukölln has received considerable attention from politicians, planners, urban scholars and the media. This article discusses the role that the academic concepts of ‘social mixing' and ‘gentrification' play in the overlapping and partly contr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of urban and regional research 2015-07, Vol.39 (4), p.738-755
Main Authors: Huning, Sandra, Schuster, Nina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Artists
Berlin-Neukölln
Cities
discourse
Gentrification
Hip
Intellectuals
Interest groups
Mass media
Mass media effects
narrative
Narratives
Planners
Politicians
Poverty
Scholarship
Social mixing
Sociologists
Students
Transformation
Transformations
Urban areas
urban regeneration
Urban renewal
urban transformation
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Summary:In the past two decades, the Berlin district of Neukölln has received considerable attention from politicians, planners, urban scholars and the media. This article discusses the role that the academic concepts of ‘social mixing' and ‘gentrification' play in the overlapping and partly contradictory narratives that have been employed to interpret transformations in one particular part of the district, Nord‐Neukölln. While the area is still characterized as a place of poverty and decline, it has more recently come to be known as a ‘hip place to be' among young (creative) urbanites, students and artists. Various urban players such as politicians, planners, urban sociologists, activists, interest groups and the media participate in the construction of these narratives and, in the process, adopt the concepts of social mixing and gentrification according to their respective rationales and preferences. Both concepts play a pivotal role in justifying contradictory claims and interventions. As a consequence, ‘social mixing' and ‘gentrification' are more than just analytical concepts for interpreting urban transformations; they have themselves become part of these transformations and have an impact on local developments. We conclude that urban scholarship must reflect more on its own role and positioning in the arena of urban transformation.
ISSN:0309-1317
1468-2427
DOI:10.1111/1468-2427.12280