Beyond displacement: Gentrification, misrecognition and resistance in Rotterdam's Tweebosbuurt

Gentrification produces a variety of experienced moral wrongs. This paper develops a new framework to assess these wrongs through the lens of (mis)recognition. On the basis of interviews with people living through gentrification in the Tweebosbuurt in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, this paper investigates the variety of ways in which people consider this process to be unjust. What mattered to the inhabitants was not only that they were displaced, i.e., that they had to move out of their home or witness neighbourhood transformation, but also the perceived intersubjective disregard that was expressed towards them in a variety of other ways during the process of gentrification. Our recognition-theoretical framework thus highlights the various moral aspects of gentrification that are all essential for a full understanding of how people morally experience the process, not just as passive victims but also as active protesters. • This interview-based study exposes the rich nature of moral responses to gentrification. • A pluralistic recognition-theoretical frame is employed to interpret these responses. • These responses include resentment for being displaced, but they go way beyond that. • As such, the paper contributes to a better understanding of opposition to gentrification. • It also shows, that active resistance may help to restore people's sense of self-respect.