1979/10/01 by Neil Smith · 4 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing Market and Economics #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Urban Planning and Governance
paper · doi:10.1080/01944367908977002
openalex publication_date 1979/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Consumer sovereignty hypotheses dominate explanations of gentrification but data on the number of suburbanites returning to the city casts doubt on this hypothesis. In fact, gentrification is an expected product of the relatively unhampered operation of the land and housing markets. The economic depreciation of capital invested in nineteenth century inner-city neighborhoods and the simultaneous rise in potential ground rent levels produces the possibility of profitable redevelopment. Although the very apparent social characteristics of deteriorated neighborhoods would discourage redevelopment, the hidden economic characteristics may well be favorable. Whether gentrification is a fundamental restructuring of urban space depends not on where new inhabitants come from but on how much productive capital returns to the area from the suburbs.