Revisiting the urban frontier through the case of New Kvillebäcken, Gothenburg

Abstract

It has been 20 years since Neil Smith published his classic The New Urban Frontier. In this paper we argue for the continuing relevance of his concepts by analysing the development of a new exclusive residential area (New Kvillebäcken) in the Gustaf Dalén area, a re-purposed industrial site on the edge of the central city of Gothenburg, Sweden. We show how the early millennial plans to create a new city district—Älvstaden (River City)—involved a redrawing of the city map that changed the conditions for this former industrial area from symbolically peripheral (though geographically central) to attractive, but insufficiently exploited, central city land, thus producing a ‘rent gap’. In our reading of Neil Smith’s concept of the urban frontier, we emphasise the close relationship between the frontier mythology that rationalises redevelopment as inevitable through stigmatisation—and the movements of capital—how and where rent gaps are created. The urban frontier creates an analytical space to unravel how the joint forces of the elite (in our case, the close cooperation between private real estate owners and the municipality of Gothenburg) displace long-time inhabitants in urban spaces such as the Gustaf Dalén area to accomplish more financially profitable land use.

Key words:

• gentrification
• urban frontier
• stigma
• Neil Smith
• rent gap

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Eric Clark, Tom Slater and Håkan Thörn for fruitful comments on an early version of this paper. The authors are also indebted to the anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the arguments substantially.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The City Executive Board is the government of the city. It consists of members from all political parties in the City Council (the parliament) and its representatives are elected by the City Council.

2 See also Leitner, Peck, and Sheppard (2007) or Colomb (2012) for a slightly different use of the urban frontier than we propose here.

3 We conducted interviews with six employees at Älvstranden Utveckling, some of them on repeated occasions, three current and formerly involved municipal city planners, seven property owners within the Kvillebäcken consortium, tenants and former property owners in the area, and with police officers in different positions. We also attended events such as the inauguration and official presentations of the project. We investigated where the 51 enterprises listed in the Urban Planning Department’s 2001 survey of area businesses relocated after they had to leave the area (see Figure 1). We reviewed crime statistics and interviewed the police statistical department. Additionally, we analysed public documents from Älvstranden Utveckling and from the Urban Planning Department, such as planning documents, zoning plans, consultation documents, deeds of purchase, building permits and records from the landowner group 2007–11, as well as from the marketing group 2007–11. Finally, we were able to study the empirical research data that formed the basis for the doctoral thesis Det permanentade provisoriet (The Permanent-Provisional State), by architectural researcher Gabriella Olshammar (2002). We have also worked closely together with documentary photographer Katarina Despotovic.

4 We give credit to Thörn and Larsson (2012, 281) for this concept—according to them Sweden is an example of advanced liberal engineering—they depart from the theory of governmentality—we do not, so for us it makes more sense to call it a neo-liberal engineering.

5 The company is named Älvstranden Utveckling AB and is the parent company. Norra Älvstranden Utveckling AB and Södra Älvstranden Utveckling AB are subsidiaries, which in turn also have subsidiaries. According to information published in Göteborgs-Posten (2013a, 2013b), there are 23 subsidiaries within Älvstranden Utveckling AB.

6 We were not able to locate an official commission from the archives—after email correspondence with Gunnar Werner we were handed excerpts from a compilation of his projects from when he worked as an architect for White. According to these documents, he was commissioned in 2004 by the Property Management Administration to explore the possibility of increasing the land use in the area.

7 According to the minutes it was Kenneth Fondén from the Urban Planning Department who provided the information: ‘In addition to the visionary planning document there is also a draft of the development showing significantly higher exploitation. The sketch is not being processed by the Building Committee but is known and sanctioned.’ The sketch is not registered in the record of either the Urban Planning Department or the Property Management Administration.

8 Information in accordance with the deed of purchase from Älvstranden Utveckling.

9 During her 2008–15 photographic fieldwork in the area, Katarina Despotovic (also active in the research project within which this paper has been written) also noted that many had never heard the term ‘Gaza Strip’ and therefore wondered about the name. When they were asked to speculate, many repeatedly emphasised that it probably had to do with the people who were active in the area.

10 The film was previously posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPf-TaD5GFA (last accessed November 14, 2013), but has now been made private and is no longer accessible to the public. However, it is still posted on the webpage of one of the property developers: http://ikfab.kjellberg.se/projekt/kvillebacken/vision (accessed December 9, 2013).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Swedish Research Council [grant number 2009-1296].

Notes on contributors

Catharina Thörn

Catharina Thörn is associate professor in cultural studies at Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg.

Helena Holgersson

Helena Holgersson is senior lecturer in cultural studies at Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg. Email: [email protected]