Displacement and urban restructuring in Amsterdam; following relocatees after demolition of social housing

Abstract

Over the past decade, urban restructuring of segregated neighbourhoods has transformed many urban districts, in the Netherlands and elsewhere; middle class households have entered neighbourhoods which were previously inhabited by lower class. Some argue that this influx of middle class has happened at the expense of the displaced original population. We investigated this process of (forced) relocation from restructured neighbourhoods. In contrast with earlier studies, individual level data have been provided directly by one of the Amsterdam housing associations involved in this process. This offered the opportunity to analyse population data, not a sample, of all relocatees from four particular urban restructuring projects in Amsterdam. We investigated location preferences before relocation as well as actual residential location behaviour per household and relocatee type and compared characteristics of their old and new dwellings and neighbourhoods. One of the findings is that forced relocation often parallels preferences expressed by the displaced.

Keywords:

• forced relocation
• urban restructuring
• gentrification
• displacement
• mixed neighbourhoods
• social mix

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of Rochdale and especially Murat Ozkardesler for their supportive attitude and help in gathering the data.

Notes