Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Rural gentrification and the production of nature: a case study from Middle England

Dr Martin Phillips,
Department of Geography,
University of Leicester,
Leicester LE1 7RH,
United Kingdom

4th International Conference of Critical Geographers, Mexico City

In a series of previous work I have sought to "make space for the study of rural gentrification" (Phillips 2005a) by highlighting parallels which exist between observed urban transformations and changes occurring in the countryside, or at least within the British countryside, and also how rural researchers might draw upon and contribute to wide ranging theoretical debates concerning the significance and constitution of gentrification (see
Phillips 1993; 2001b; 2002b; 2004; 2005a). The term gentrification is often interpreted as a largely urban phenomena, with urban gentrification being a widely acknowledged research subject – even research frontier (Van Weesep 1994) - and having become a heterogeneous and contested discursive space, with highly divergent interpretations of gentrification being advanced and debated. In contrast, rural gentrification appears as a small, restricted and rather unremarkable discursive space. A relatively small number of people use the term rural gentrification, and when it is used is often accompanied with little or no justifying commentary: rural gentrification is either largely ignored or presented as a commonplace referent to some changes in contemporary rural life.
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