Veni, vidi, gentri?–Social class change in London and Paris: gentrification cause or consequence?

Abstract

This paper is a commentary and response to Anne Clerval’s paper Gentrification and social classes in Paris, 1982–2008, which is published in this volume. While agreeing with many of her conclusions regarding social class change and gentrification in Paris, and highlighting the parallels with London, the paper argues that both London and Paris have become more middle class cities in the last 40–50 years, not wholly middle-class cities. Second, it argues that Clerval is wrong to suggest that gentrification is the principal cause of social class change in Paris. The causation is likely to be the other way round. Third, it argues that Clerval is wrong to criticize the replacement thesis as ideological and she herself accepts that displacement and replacement go hand in hand. But overall, her paper raises a number of stimulating and important issues regarding the relationships between urban economic change and gentrification.