In the shadow of gentrification: the case of art-led neighborhood change in Osaka’s developmental inner city

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the “shadow of gentrification;” that is, it examines the applicability of the concept of gentrification beyond the typical context of the global city and attempts to advance its understanding in the Global East. This topic is approached by analyzing the role of rental housing in art-led neighborhood change in Osaka’s inner city, an area shaped during Japan’s developmental period. Three characteristics of housing that facilitates art-led neighborhood change – physical features, economic conditions, and tenure type – were identified, along which the renovation work conducted by artists in Osaka’s inner city, was analyzed. The results show that the developmental inner city provides only poor conditions for gentrification driven by artists. To enable a better understanding of neighborhood change in the Global East, this study suggests overcoming the concept of gentrification by focusing on other forms of neighborhood change, and highlighting breaks instead of continuities in the local political economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Artists
• developmental state
• gentrification
• Global East
• inner city

Acknowledgment

My gratitude goes to all the people in Kitakagaya who shared their time and knowledge with me; to Nov Amenomori, who helped build contact with the local landlord, greatly easing entry into the field; and to Eunhwee Jeon, who conducted the interviews together with me, contributing countless ingenious questions. Finally, I would like to thank the three anonymous peer reviewers who provided extensive feedback and literature suggestions, which helped to significantly refine the arguments of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Burakumin are descents of outcast groups that were at the bottom of Japanese society during the Edo Period. These people were discriminated against because they had occupations considered impure or tainted, such as tanners or leather workers. Discrimination against them continued beyond the Edo Period and is still present in contemporary Japan.

2 Only when landlords require a housing unit for themselves, a “rightful cause” exists, or a considerable compensation payment is made can the lease be terminated. Usually, these criteria are evaluated very strictly in court cases (Ito, 1994).

3 1 USD was in 2015 approximately 120 yen.

4 To protect the privacy of the artists interviewed in Kitakagaya, in this text all names are aliases.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant number 20K13264).