The lived experience of class cleansing: reshaping sense of place in a gentrified neighbourhood

Abstract

Gentrification is a capitalist urban transformation process whereby working-class residents are progressively replaced by wealthier ones, affecting the people-place bonds of those who manage to stay. In a process known as class cleansing, new cultural codes reshape the urban landscape redefining class identities. Drawing on this argument, we explore everyday class experiences in the gentrified neighbourhood of El Poblenou (Barcelona) conducting a reflexive thematic analysis attuned to discursive dynamics through 22 walking interviews. We develop three themes. The first theme examines the relation between class identities and the neighbourhood’s economic model. The second addresses commercial displacement. The third investigates the (re)creation of iconic spaces. Results reveal participants’ diverse and ambivalent experiences of place, catalysed by the blurring of El Poblenou’s working-class identity, and how residents manage their sense of place. We offer a critical social-psychological approach to examining the spatial arrangement of everyday socioeconomic inequalities.