Juliet Kahne
Print versionPhD Research
Gentrification - the influx of the new urbane middle classes into previously working class inner city districts - has been a significant force in Los Angeles for some time now, in a city the ‘LA School’ argue is the paradigmatic future for all cities (Dear, 2000). There have been extensive studies of gentrification in most major cities (i.e. London, New York Vancouver, Melbourne), but not in Los Angeles. Moreover, rather than focusing on neighbourhoods in Los Angeles that have passed through the progressive stages of pioneer to mature gentrification, this research constitutes the first study of pioneer gentrifiers (a left-liberal or countercultural new middle class) successfully preventing the further gentrification of their neighbourhood.
My PhD research then will investigate how and why a district in Los Angeles, Silver Lake, has resisted the further gentrification of its neighbourhood despite its location in an area of the city experiencing more mature stages of gentrification, such as new-build and super gentrification (Davidson and Lees, 2005). This investigation will determine if it is actually gentrification that exists in the primary stages and if so, has it been stalled, or if the situation could also be described as ‘social preservation’ (Brown-Saracino 2003, 2007, 2010), a concept described as people actively working to maintain community or neighbourhood authenticity and diversity both in landscape and social networks.
The neighbourhood - Silver Lake in the eastern section of the city - has managed to maintain a left-liberal bohemian presence in the face of the numerous state and developer-led gentrifying residential and commercial projects that are commonplace in Los Angeles. The ‘community’ actively supports the ethnic, class, economic and cultural diversity of its inhabitants in the face of larger sanitizing and homogenizing gentrification processes that are common throughout other areas of the city. The gentrification literature provides examples of neighbourhoods that have actively resisted gentrification (see Lees et al, 2008; Ley and Dobson, 2008) but there are no examples of neighbourhoods that have undergone pioneer gentrification and then managed to prevent the maturity and stabilisation of gentrification in their neighbourhood. Silver Lake thus invites further investigation.
The neighbourhood - Silver Lake in the eastern section of the city - has managed to maintain a left-liberal bohemian presence in the face of the numerous state and developer-led gentrifying residential and commercial projects that are commonplace in Los Angeles. The ‘community’ actively supports the ethnic, class, economic and cultural diversity of its inhabitants in the face of larger sanitizing and homogenizing gentrification processes that are common throughout other areas of the city. The gentrification literature provides examples of neighbourhoods that have actively resisted gentrification (see Lees et al, 2008; Ley and Dobson, 2008) but there are no examples of neighbourhoods that have undergone pioneer gentrification and then managed to prevent the maturity and stabilisation of gentrification in their neighbourhood. Silver Lake thus invites further investigation.
Supervisors: Loretta Lees and Tim Butler
Funding: King's Alumni Bursary and SSPP studentship
My PhD research then will investigate how and why a district in Los Angeles, Silver Lake, has resisted the further gentrification of its neighbourhood despite its location in an area of the city experiencing more mature stages of gentrification, such as new-build and super gentrification (Davidson and Lees, 2005). This investigation will determine if it is actually gentrification that exists in the primary stages and if so, has it been stalled, or if the situation could also be described as ‘social preservation’ (Brown-Saracino 2003, 2007, 2010), a concept described as people actively working to maintain community or neighbourhood authenticity and diversity both in landscape and social networks.
The neighbourhood - Silver Lake in the eastern section of the city - has managed to maintain a left-liberal bohemian presence in the face of the numerous state and developer-led gentrifying residential and commercial projects that are commonplace in Los Angeles. The ‘community’ actively supports the ethnic, class, economic and cultural diversity of its inhabitants in the face of larger sanitizing and homogenizing gentrification processes that are common throughout other areas of the city. The gentrification literature provides examples of neighbourhoods that have actively resisted gentrification (see Lees et al, 2008; Ley and Dobson, 2008) but there are no examples of neighbourhoods that have undergone pioneer gentrification and then managed to prevent the maturity and stabilisation of gentrification in their neighbourhood. Silver Lake thus invites further investigation.
The neighbourhood - Silver Lake in the eastern section of the city - has managed to maintain a left-liberal bohemian presence in the face of the numerous state and developer-led gentrifying residential and commercial projects that are commonplace in Los Angeles. The ‘community’ actively supports the ethnic, class, economic and cultural diversity of its inhabitants in the face of larger sanitizing and homogenizing gentrification processes that are common throughout other areas of the city. The gentrification literature provides examples of neighbourhoods that have actively resisted gentrification (see Lees et al, 2008; Ley and Dobson, 2008) but there are no examples of neighbourhoods that have undergone pioneer gentrification and then managed to prevent the maturity and stabilisation of gentrification in their neighbourhood. Silver Lake thus invites further investigation.
Supervisors: Loretta Lees and Tim Butler
Funding: King's Alumni Bursary and SSPP studentship
Biography
I graduated with a BA in geography from the University of Southern California (USC), and soon after moved to London to pursue an MSc in Cities Culture and Social Change in the geography department at King’s College London. My MSc thesis attempted to better define coastal gentrification by exploring Brighton, UK’s left-liberal, ‘sea-beach-city’ landscape to display why gentrification there is different from other gentrified areas.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Los Angeles, I would call myself a Californian. However, I now consider London to be my home… though I am often teased for trading sunshine for clouds. I have always been fascinated with cities, what we can learn from them, and the chaos and charisma that manifests within them. My longtime struggle with making sense of what I feel to be the ‘placelessness’ of Los Angeles, along with my undergraduate experience, inspired my interest in gentrification and led to this PhD.
My main research interests include gentrification and historic preservation. I feel a connection can and should be made between urban development and the preservation of arts and culture in order to maintain a ‘sense of place’ within a given landscape (see Massey, 1991). Most likely this interest stems from growing up in a relatively ‘new’ city like Los Angeles and always feeling as if it was lacking something… after spending time in other cities, I found out that it does. It has been proposed time and time again that cities are becoming more and more ‘placeless’ as they continue to globalize (see Relph, 1976). Therefore I sense the urgency in this area to find ways to maintain connections to the past as the urban landscape evolves to suit our growth. I believe we can have the best of both worlds.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Los Angeles, I would call myself a Californian. However, I now consider London to be my home… though I am often teased for trading sunshine for clouds. I have always been fascinated with cities, what we can learn from them, and the chaos and charisma that manifests within them. My longtime struggle with making sense of what I feel to be the ‘placelessness’ of Los Angeles, along with my undergraduate experience, inspired my interest in gentrification and led to this PhD.
My main research interests include gentrification and historic preservation. I feel a connection can and should be made between urban development and the preservation of arts and culture in order to maintain a ‘sense of place’ within a given landscape (see Massey, 1991). Most likely this interest stems from growing up in a relatively ‘new’ city like Los Angeles and always feeling as if it was lacking something… after spending time in other cities, I found out that it does. It has been proposed time and time again that cities are becoming more and more ‘placeless’ as they continue to globalize (see Relph, 1976). Therefore I sense the urgency in this area to find ways to maintain connections to the past as the urban landscape evolves to suit our growth. I believe we can have the best of both worlds.
