1259 | 862 | Transnational gentrification and floating populations in southern Europe. The case of El Raval in Barcelona | Álvaro Mazorra y Antonio López-Gay
The transformation of Barcelona into a space of attraction for the knowledge economy has encouraged the growing arrival of qualified national professionals and, above all, qualified migrants of international origin. This is a cosmopolitan and prosperous class of professionals and managers from advanced economies who settle, often temporarily, in the city attracted by Barcelona’s lifestyle. _x000D_
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The income gap between the skilled migrant population and the local population, as well as the greater willingness of the floating populations to pay higher rents for short stays, leads to the increase of urban land values. The concentration of these groups in certain areas of the city -mainly the city centers and historic spaces- tends to drive up the cost of housing in these areas, resulting in the gradual displacement of low-income populations from these environments._x000D_
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It is in this context that the research presented in this paper is framed. More specifically, the aim of the paper is to analyze the sociodemographic dynamics that have taken place in the central neighborhood of El Raval during the decade of the 2010s. The hypothesis is that the neighborhood is experiencing an emerging process of gentrification due to the increasing influx of foreign population with high educational and socioprofessional profiles. Furthermore, a significant portion of the displaced population is of foreign origin, with particularly precarious and unstable residential trajectories. In this framework, we argue that the displacement of low-income groups and their replacement by qualified foreign professionals makes El Raval an emblematic case, in the context of southern Europe, of transnational gentrification processes dominated by highly temporary populations.
Álvaro Mazorra y Antonio López-Gay
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). Departament de Geografia de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona y del Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics
ID Abstract: 862