A City, Two Neighborhoods, Ten Years: Observing Gentrification before and during the Crisis

In gentrification studies most of the empirical literature draws on in-depth analysis of single case study or on multi-site comparative analysis having time as a fixed variable. This paper aims at introducing and problematizing the time dimension in a multi-site comparative analysis. The paper we propose here is based on a double fieldwork in two neighborhoods of Torino, Italy, known as Quadrilatero Romano and San Salvario, that have been facing gentrification from the early Nineties up to recent times, following one another as subsequent targets of public interventions and market dynamics. The time-span of more than ten years allows us to reach some major conclusions on the overall regeneration of the city of Torino, the role of gentrification in the remaking of the central city and the effects of the financial crisis on households, commercial activities and the image of the city.

The data are qualitative, mostly fieldwork notes, interviews and observations.

The contributions of this paper are both theoretical and methodological. On the one hand , it offers new understandings of fourth-wave gentrification phenomena in a peripheral Western country such as Italy, on the other hand, it adds further knowledge on multi-site longitudinal and qualitative analysis. Moreover, we will provide evidences from a city that have long been the one-company town of Italy, hosting FIAT and IVECO industries among others, and it is now betting on cultural economy, tourism and entertainment as new path of re-development after hosting the Winter Olympics games in 2006.