Gentrification and the Arts

Gentrification is typically associated with change in inner city housing markets. The goal of this speaker series is to advance some wider perspectives on gentrification, recognizing that housing change is only one aspect of this broader social and economic process.

As part of the speaker series Gentrification and the City hosted by SFU's Department of Urban Studies, a lecture on gentrification and the arts will be presented. 

Gentrification and the arts

Speaker: Norma Rantisi, Associate Professor in Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University

Date and Time: March 7, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.

Location: Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema (Room 3200) at SFU Woodward’s, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

RSVP: www.sfu.ca/reserve

Artists have long been viewed as pioneers of gentrification, and yet contemporary studies also point to how artists themselves have been displaced as a consequence of the revalorisation of property. This talk will present the case of a gentrifying neighbourhood in Montreal, where artists have successfully fought to secure affordable studio space, and will reflect on the lessons that this case suggests for a broader struggle against displacement.

Speaker Norma Rantisi's research interests lie in the fields of economic geography, planning and local economic development, with a focus on the social and spatial organization of cultural industries.

For further details, and for information about the other lectures in the series, visit the SFU Urban Studies Blog.