Designer neighbourhoods: New-build residential development in nonmetropolitan UK cities - The case of Bristol

Boddy, Martin

Abstract

New-build city-centre residential development in the UK has increasingly been identified as a form of 'third-wave' or 'postrecession' gentrification. The aim of this paper is, first, to extent our understanding of new, developer-led, residential development in the context of nonmetropolitan urban areas in the UK, which it does by means of a case study of the city of Bristol. The second aim is to revisit the issue of whether such residential development should be seen as a form of postrecession gentrification and to question the meaning of the term 'gentrification' as it has been increasingly used in a global context. This discussion draws both on a detailed case study of the Bristol and on a critical reading of Davidson and Lees (2005, "New build 'gentrification' and London's riverside renaisannce", Environment of Planning A 37 1165-1190) account of new-build 'gentrification' in London's riverside. In conclusion, it is argued that these forms of residential development and investment flows reflect a powerful and complex set of processes which it is important to understand. In contrast to Davidson and Lees, however, the conclusion is also that the extension of the term 'gentrification' to embrace such forms of development stretches it beyond the point at which it retains utility or meaning.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2007
• Journal: Environment and Planning A
• Print ISSN: 0308-518X
• Electronic ISSN: 1472-3409
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 86-105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a39144
• Keywords: neighbourhoods, UK, Bristol, nonmetropolitan, new build, residential development
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1030192
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a39144
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Developed from invited contribution to panel at Association of American Geographers Conference, Chicago, 2005; selected for inclusion in theme issue of the journal. Delivered as Dean's Visiting International Lecture, College of Urban Planning and Urban Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, 'Urban Renaissance in the UK � is it happening?', 2006.