“Life on the Upslope”: The Postmodern Landscape of Gentrification

Abstract

The significance of the changing meaning of the inner city to the process of gentrification is explored. Recent researchers taking a ‘production of gentrifiers' perspective have focused on how restructuring of production and reproduction has generated a growth in the number of households which are most likely to benefit from inner-city living. That argument is extended with reference to cultural change, interweaving theoretical issues with an account of the postmodern landscape of a redeveloped neighbourhood in Vancouver, Canada. Connections are made between a number of practices, including planning and architectural design, advertising and marketing strategy, and the life-style of ‘New Class' gentrifiers. Dynamic relations between emergent and dominant cultures are traced in terms of their impact on the transformation of this landscape. Postmodern landscapes are ambiguous in their meaning; they have come to represent both a reaction against corporate visions of the city, and a confirmation of the vigour of the commodity form. This tension is examined in terms of the interplay between the construction of the postmodern landscape and the constitution of gentrifiers as a social group.