Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on a case study of the district of Bukchon* in Seoul where the concept of new coffee houses, considered as ‘European’ or ‘cosmopolitan’ cultural practices, drives the restoration of ‘traditional’ alleys. *see http://bukchon.seoul.go.kr/eng/intro/wculture.jsp

Paper long abstract:

In the past decade a culture of urban coffee houses has emerged in the South Korean metropolis of Seoul. Forming what is locally known as 'café streets', these are central actors to gentrification in certain residential areas. They not only represent a new urban lifestyle and consumerism but also have a remarkable influence on environmental structures and social life of those districts.

This paper shows an example of the district of Bukchon in Seoul where the concept of new coffee houses, considered as 'European' or 'cosmopolitan' cultural practices, drives the restoration of 'traditional' alleys. In this process, the interests of the political authorities of the city of Seoul, the urban planer, the local resident, the owner of the shop, the actor in creative industries, and last but not least the consumer - as flaneur - coincide in restoring the alleys. It is interesting to see how the languages of 'cosmopolitanism' and 'local tradition' blend in the narrative of 'creative city'. Local residents initiate projects against the gentrification, e.g. photographical documentation and collection of individual memories of the district. Yet, these activities match the touristic interest of the political authorities to create a sense of historicity and authenticity of the place.

This paper shows an excerpt from an ongoing dissertation project that studies the current development of the new coffee culture in Seoul from an ethnographic-praxeological perspective.

Paper short abstract:

The paper describes different urban transformation processes in Istanbul's World Heritage areas. Many of the residents were recently evicted to make place for real estate investments in heritage tourism that particularly focuses on the reconstruction of neo-Ottoman architecture.

Paper long abstract:

Under Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) large scale urban transformation projects have dominated Istanbul's cityscape in the last decade. Political actors especially focus on historic neighborhoods, including the four UNESCO World Heritage areas, to promote heritage tourism by rebuilding neo-Ottoman architecture.

In this paper, I examine the transformation projects in different World Heritage neighborhoods (e.g. Süleymaniye and Ayvansaray). Old houses have been demolished and are currently rebuild to create a 'historic' environment with leisure facilities close to the main tourist attractions. Different local actors in neighborhood associations and citywide platforms oppose these projects by pointing to the loss of the city's cultural heritage.

While the transformation of the areas often leads to the eviction of former residents, the practice of demolition and rebuilding is also supported by some residents as an adequate means for heritage preservation and as an effective way to improve their own living conditions. These discourses enable municipalities to realize their vision of 'heritagization' against opposing claims.

The paper sheds light on cultural heritage as a commodity to gentrify historic neighborhoods. It traces the residents' hopes and struggles in course of the transformation projects and illustrates how property no longer guarantees the right to stay in the area after completion of these projects.

Paper short abstract:

The Baka neighbourhood in Jerusalem is a former Palestinian neighbourhood which became Jewish. The Palestinian homes were the "engine" of gentrification processes, which the conservationist discourse turned into super-gentrification. But whose heritage is being conserved and for what purpose?

Paper long abstract:

The Baka neighbourhood in Jerusalem was built by wealthy Palestinians in late nineteenth century, conquered during the 1948 war and soon densely re-populated by low class Jewish immigrants. After the 1967 war and the geopolitical changes in the city's borders, Baka became an inner-city neighbourhood. Additionally, an emerging architectural trend cherished the aesthetics of the Palestinian architecture and regarded it as "authentic". This triggered a long-going process of gentrification in Baka which later turned into super-gentrification. These processes were also combined with high-status immigration of Jews from Western countries. Baka's unique architecture (which includes various architectural styles) had been the "engine" of the neighbourhood's gentrification, which later shifted from the Palestinian homes to newly built housing units and additions on Palestinian homes, and finally even to the poorly built housing developments of the 1960s, and it is now a trendy prestigious neighbourhood. The main questions this paper addresses deal with heritage: whose heritage is being conserved, by whom, for whom and for what purpose? In the context of the ongoing national conflict, the past Palestinian presence in West Jerusalem is something that the State has made large efforts of forgetting. Yet, as these homes hold valuable profits which the municipality can gain from too, the efforts of ideological conservationists are suddenly heard. Eager developers who understand the value of "authenticity" quickly jump on this wagon. My argument is that while conservation has certainly become a buzzword in Jerusalem, it doesn't include any recognition of the Palestinian past or their rights.

Paper short abstract:

Taking Jerusalem and Istanbul as case studies, in this paper I examine how struggles over urban heritage shape projects of social change against neoliberal urbanism.

Paper long abstract:

Taking Jerusalem and Istanbul as case studies, in this paper I argue - along the lines of an essay I am developing with Michael Herzfeld - that struggles over urban heritage are particularly important to the unfolding of projects of social change against neoliberal urbanism and other forms of discriminatory spatial planning. These struggles often originate in civic campaigns and coalitions of local actors and citizens claiming their rights to public space, or rather, their common rights to a space and a heritage that the public has allowed to get privatized and alienated from its makers and users. What is striking is that these campaigns are directed against projects of so-called urban regeneration which themselves claim to be about preserving heritage. Heritage thus emerges as an important site of globalized urbanism. The recent Gezi Park protests in Istanbul are a paradigmatic example of this dynamics - as is Jerusalem, in spite of its exceptional status. Nowadays heritage is mobilized by both state and capital, and by social movements in their attempts to control the form of the urban: what counts as urban heritage and public good is thus a crucial question.

Paper short abstract:

I will address the site of Petra, Jordan, as an interesting case of conflicts arising over historic preservation. By focusing on varying interests of locals, stakeholders and tourists, I will explore the dynamics of conflicts occurring between heritagization, tourism development and housing struggle.

Paper long abstract:

In 1985, the historical town of Petra in Jordan was included as a world heritage site in the list of the UNESCO. In preparation for this inscription, a master plan was prepared. It focused on a forced relocation of the Bedouins living within the historic site. Their habitation of the historic town was said to destroy the old tombs and the Bedouins were considered to be an inconvenience for an expected growing number of tourists. The relocation process started in the 1970ies and resulted in an armed resistance on the part of the Bedouins. As no single Bedouin family had moved into the settlement for relocation in the 1980ies, the government put pressure on the families with the result that most of the Bedouins had moved into the new village in the 1990ies. After the Bedouins had been resettled into the urban surrounding, the question of land rights had emerged because the village was built on the land of the neighboring tribe resulting in various conflicts. Furthermore, due to rising tourist numbers, increased construction of hotels was required and the newly inhabited village of the Bedouins was considered a location for new hotels or a tourist village. However, the question was where to resettle the Bedouins a second time. The historical site of Petra in Jordan which is visited by up to 3000 international tourists daily, provides a very interesting case for addressing different points of conflict which may occur over the linkage between heritagization, tourism development and housing struggle.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the relationship between the process of heritagisation and urban politics in a post-war context. By analysing the discourses and practices of different social actors in Beirut, it seeks to explore how they use the rhetoric of heritage in metropolitan conflicts.

Paper long abstract:

In the aftermath of the civil war (1975-90), Beirut has become a laboratory for post-war reconstruction, and some parts of the city give the impression of functioning as an eternal construction site of large-scale urban renewal experiment. These socio-spatial transformations attracted mixed reactions, and many concerns were voiced by city residents, social activists, architects, and urban planners - especially with regard to the profound alteration of Beirut's historic core. This critique can assuredly be viewed as part of the struggle for an identity in a post-war context where the conception of heritage began to shift from a matter of family legacy to its understanding as a more collective phenomenon. And in this sense, it has been gradually mobilised as a tool in the battle against Beirut's radical gentrification.

By analysing the relationship between heritagisation and urban politics in post-war Beirut, this paper examines how the rhetoric of heritage is deployed to appropriate and stake claims to urban space. Also, I grapple with the notion of sustainability that is enmeshed within discourses and practices of heritage in the Lebanese capital. Finally, I explore how urban social actors produce aesthetic and historical epistemologies - the social process by which certain values and evidence are created and mobilised in claim-making.

Paper short abstract:

The paper compares the use of ruined buildings in Nicosia’s Buffer Zone by the Occupy movement on the one hand and professional reconstruction experts. Gentrification emerges as a major factor in the differential reception of these initiatives.

Paper long abstract:

The paper compares initiatives to reconstruct and reuse ruined buildings in two different areas in Nicosia's Buffer Zone and analyses the impact of state intervention in thwarting and allowing different kinds of practices. The paper focuses specifically on the use of buildings by the Occupy movement in Cyprus and on the professional reconstruction of derelict buildings in a different location of the Buffer Zone. The analysis addresses gentrification as a major factor in the differential reception of these initiatives. Gramsci's differentiation between types of intellectual production, framed as 'state' and 'organic', is here being applied to approaches to the material manifestations of past conflict in the form of ruined buildings and the attempts to reclaim them as forgotten aspects of cultural heritage. The evaluation and fate of these attempts is shown to be intimately linked to understandings of property in terms of monetary values and as an aspect of sovereign power.