Dublin Gentrification

murphaph

A topic that interests me is gentrification. In Berlin this is currently in full swing in a number of dirt poor districts that until 5 years ago had a load of unemployed Germans and another load of unemployed Turks and not much else. Some of these areas are now seeing massive increases in property values as a new type of tenant moves in...the student/artist/hipster types who are often considered the "pioneers of gentrification". They seek out cheap rents and then their very presence attracts tenants/owners with greater spending power as the area appears less "edgy" than previously.

The same thing has happened all over the world, Lower East Side in Manhattan, Shoreditch etc. in London but where, if anywhere, has it happened in Dublin? I find it a bit of an anomaly that you still have large swathes of pretty rough flats in very close proximity to the city centre. You typically don't find that in other capitals in Europe IMO.

Slydice

Well there's a bit of an property and accomodation crisis at the moment.

Rents are going crazy

The government is having to back loan applications in order to get banks to give out mortgages after hitting really low levels in recent years

Almost 15 thousand houses haven't made a mortgage payment in two whole years and tens of thousands more who haven't paid in over a year and the government won't repossess cos it's an uproar when it happens on the news and it'll seriously damage any political party that does it

At the same time, homelessness is at record high levels and if it isn't resulting in people out sleeping on the streets, it's ending up with families being put into completely inappropriate accomodation like hotels. Might sound cosy but it's not good for raising a family.

We're suffering the aftermath of a terrible property bubble. People are in debt up to their eyeballs. There's nowhere to go. Nothing is done if you stay.

You might think we're not gonna make that mistake again but there's warnings about another property bubble and unfortunatly all we can think of doing if building more houses like we did to make the first bubble.

So, i dunno. It's all a big mess and I can't see how it can be fixed. From my perspective we're doing nothing to sort the issue out and in general we're all out for our own good and the idea of getting ahead of everyone else. So that's my quickly written thoughts on it just now, I hope that helps.

dubrov

Ringsend is an obvious example I can think of and I'm sure there are plenty of others.

The way property prices are going, gentrification is likely to increase as potential buyers are priced out of desirable areas

quadrifoglio verde

I can see the north inner city going that way, the streets with the old Georgian houses on them, like north great George's st etc. The places that are pre 63 bedsits have great potential.
Another area that has really been gentrified is the docklands,

hfallada

Phisboro is a prime example. About 5 years ago, half the shops where empty and only non nationals really lived there. Today its full of nice cafes, shops and I can't think of an empty store on the main streets. There is also a lot more Irish living there. The only thing holding the area back is the horrific high rise office block, which is owned by the garda pension fund

Chapel street was a street that was very run down. There was a ton of sex shops, head shops and abandoned buildings. Now has nice cafes and luxury apartments.

What's holding back the city is the low density that is only allowed. In Munich every building is about 6 storeys minimum and usually about 8. This means density is about twice as much as Dublin. There is a greater incentive to build apartment blocks. A lot of our social housing needs to be flattened and replaced with high density mixed housing. Buildings with market rate apartments and social housing. Even Munich builds student accomdation 20 storeys high

Heisenberg.

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sarkozy

There's a difference between organic change of neighbourhoods and gentrification. Dublin 8 (Tenters, South Circular Road, Portobello) would probably be neighbourhoods tagged with the gentrification stamp. However, I think gentrification requires a period of relatively rapid economic expansion. We're still making our way through the worst economic crisis in Ireland since the depression.

Right now, the Dublin housing market is in strange, anomalous times, with prices rising quickly for certain kinds of houses - but from a very low point. In Dublin 8, from what I see, you have people buying houses they can afford - these are regular-enough people - lower-middle and upper working-class people for whom these houses were generally built for in the first place. But what you do have is a gradual transformation of the community culture.

As the OP says, gentrification occurs when avant garde groups, or mavens or whatever, break ground in a dodgy part of town, smooth off the rough edges and lay the track for a stream of rich types to flood the place with their money and completely displace local communities through their money power.

I've seen this in Berlin. I've been visiting that city over the last ten years and areas like Friedrichshain that I never expected to see being gentrified have undergone some quite enormous transformation in the past five years alone. Many original shops and bars have closed, and you don't see so many mullets and triple denim anymore.

In Dublin, I don't see entire communities being marginalised as a result of massive social change in quite the same way. In many cases, it feels like peaceful co-existence. Take Stoneybatter. People move there because there's a good scene, good bars, shops, etc., it's close to the city. It's relatively affordable for, let's say, alternative types of people. But equally, you have the ages-old community continuing on as usual.

Even walking around Ringsend, perhaps there's more of a contrast and instances of gentrification because of its proximity to Landsdowne Road/Sandymout/Ballsbridge as distinct from the ex-council houses and very working class community that has lived around there, but it's not incredibly stark.

But, I don't doubt there are gentrification dynamics alive in Ireland. The difference is in how it's done. Ireland doesn't do extremes, do you have to look at the subtle shades of grey. Or, the overlooked. One example of gentrification that comes to mind has been 'regeneration' projects. For example, the Dublin Docklands, or the original plans for the St. Michael's and Theresa's Gardens estate regeneration projects. Because it was a PPP, the plan was to essentially displace the original community (temporarily?) and then to rehouse them in socially affordable housing within the context of a larger complex where most units were sold to private owners, either owner-occupier or for renting out. Thankfully, those communities got active in resisting this and working positively with the Council to ensure the plans were in their interests. But then it all collapsed. And their community was still affected.

Victor

I think it is happening in different ways, some good some bad. Personally, I think if it doesn't overwhelm the existing community and thereby displacing them completely, it can be useful. One of the worst problems of the slums clearances from the 1920s-1980s was what whole communities were displaced to locations with no services or employment and any community structures were destroyed.

In the Docklands, it would seem that the existing communities have survived somewhat, primarily as the new residents (largely professionals and students, with many of those being migrants) are living in new buildings on previously vacant sites. On the face of it, this would seem to be a good development. While admittedly prices for everything has risen, but services, opportunities and employment have also improved.

In much of the city centre, it has again been infill development that has been the main contributor to change. The residents of these new buildings are a mix of professionals, students, migrants and the local community.

However, in Ringsend, Stoneybatter and parts of the Liberties there had probably been some displacement of residents by more middle class elements. However, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. The new residents can help give a voice to existing communities by building on existing social structures and using their education and outside connections to help the community.

In the traditional flat-lands of Ranelagh, Rathmines, Drumcondra and Phibsborough, there may be a hollowing-out effect, as bed-sits and flats are replaced by single dwelling houses. Whereas one building used to house 6-15 people, it now houses 4. This can put a lot of pressure on local businesses and services as they lose their critical mass, which isn't replaced by increased individual spends. The displaced (would-be) residents may have to commute from further out.

One factor that shouldn't be ignored is that there is some class mobility within areas. Inner-city teenagers are getting to go to college, but in contrast in the 1950s suburbs, working families are growing old to become empty nests, which hits local services like shops and schools.

sarkozy

Good point about Ranelagh. 'Hollowed out' is the phrase. I grew up there. As a child, nearly my whole street were flats. Ours was an 'empty nest' situation before my parents got the place. Over the years, the street changed totally with all houses now family homes.

The general negative impact, for me, is how Ranelagh village has changed in a way I don't like. Once, it was a functioning village with choices of butchers, fishmongers, chemists, video shops, hardware stores, launderettes, convenience stores, chippers, one restaurant (a steakhouse). Now, it more resembles a food court; many old businesses died out, new businesses also died out post-boom, now 'old businesses' are coming back, a much-needed SuperValu, and Lidl is an improvement, but there's still a profound lack of choice and local 'buzz' unlike, say, Camden Street, which may not have long left, either.

With the exception of Lidl, it's no longer the kind of place that attracts a variety of people. People might argue this was never the case, Ranelagh was always middle-class, but it really wasn't so black-and-white then. This is only 25 years ago.

Now even I consider the place boring, soulless, and not for people like me with the size of my monthly wedge. In a certain sense, I feel I've been displaced, even though in other senses, I shouldn't be complaining.

I totally agree with the disastrous past relocation policies. The end result was to plant 'undesirables' and 'burdens' out to the edge of the city post-1922 and never consider their needs in terms of transport, services, commercial vitality, connectedness, etc. Places and cities function better, in my opinion, when they're denser and where economic classes live closer together, more mixed up. In effect, the so-called 'bad neighbour' problem, as some philosophers call it, is, ironically a good thing.

Ranelagh would certainly be a place where there has been, as I see it, a destructive homogenisation.