In urban development, gentrification is often met with suspicion. Though promising, the process of gentrification goes hand in hand with alienation and forced displacement. This session questions whether ‘gentlyfication’ can be the answer to potential negative effects of gentrification measures. Gentlyfication approaches market forces from a different vantage point, proposing instruments attempting to diminish, eliminate or adjust them at the policy level. A few examples of such instruments are discussed, demonstrating the variety of interventions one could consider on either an area or city level. Do they successfully cross the bridge between policy and market forces? Can we actually counteract the negative effects of gentrification?
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Is Gentlyfication a Blind Alley?
Minouche Besters, Nidhi Gulati, Simon Güntner, Michael Mehaffy
Minouche has been a partner at STIPO since 2015. She graduated as a political scientist from the UvA in 1999 and is an experienced process designer and facilitator of transformation processes. She believes that everything you pay attention to grows and with this vision she tries to create movement and create new energy. Operating in projects lacking energy, mandate or ownership requires creativity, courage, rethinking and experimentation and this is exactly where Minouche’s talent lies! Themes she likes to work on are energy transition, inclusive cities and innovation in the city. In her spare time she marvels at all the beauty in nature and she walks pilgrimages through the Netherlands.
Nidhi Gulati is a social impact executive and a human-centered design practitioner with 8 years in the nonprofit sector. During this time, she has held various positions leading community-based consulting projects, managing a team of placemakers, to serving as a Co-Executive Director. Nidhi Gulati is committed to solve widespread social issues through the built environment and build bridges across the public, private, and impact sectors. She leverages her skills to support ventures that simultaneously prioritize environmental, social, and financial resilience for communities, with a special focus on their youngest members. She is a born and raised Indian with tremendous appreciation for trains, a love for walking as a mode of transportation, and a deep sensitivity towards issues of gender, race, and their manifestation in the built environment.
Simon Güntner is a Professor of Spatial Sociology and Head of the Research Unit Sociology at Technische Universität Wien. Before turning to academia, Simon has been involved in various international city networks and has broad experience in moderating and coordinating transdisciplinary research and learning projects. His main areas of work include social innovation, poverty, migration and urban development. A recent publication on social service innovation that he co-authored can be accessed here: https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658051754
Michael W. Mehaffy, Ph.D., is a researcher, author, educator, planner, designer and builder, who has held appointments in architecture, planning and philosophy at seven graduate institutions in six countries. He is on the editorial boards of four international journals of urban planning and design. He has consulted to governments, businesses and NGOs, most recently to UN-Habitat in development of the New Urban Agenda. He is currently conducting research at the Centre for the Future of Places, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He holds a Ph.D. in architecture and urban design from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.