Between Victimhood and Participation: Young People's Experiences of Gentrification in Berlin and Shanghai

Gentrification research has focused mostly on structural capital and policy shifts, without paying sufficient attention to the lived experiences of young people. This study relies on 30 semi-structured interviews (15 in Shanghai and 15 in Berlin) in order to answer two main questions: What are the socioeconomic impacts of gentrification faced by young people in these cities, and are young people victims, agents or both of the process of gentrification? The interviews suggest that youth is a diverse and contradictory category of actors. Participants in both cities commonly reported higher housing prices and the development of commercial facilities targeting youth; nevertheless, processes of displacement and reactions differ dramatically between the cities under study. In Berlin, several economically advantaged interviewees described being involved in gentrification of residential scale in fifth-wave financialized housing market conditions. In Shanghai, youth plays a role through consumption, and the main factor of urban change is the state-led redevelopment. Aalbers' concept of fifth-wave gentrification proves partially useful but needs modification for the state-driven, non-Western city settings.