De invloed van gentrificatie op verbondenheid met de buurt: Verschillen tussen etnische groepen in de stedelijke context

This study investigates the relationship between gentrification in urban neighbourhoods and feelings of belongingness. It was expected that gentrification has a negative influence on neighbourhood belonging because of the (fear of) displacement of original residents and the disruption of social cohesion. It was also hypothesized that this effect would be the strongest for longer established ethnic minority groups compared to less-established ethnic minority groups and that the effect would be the weakest for Dutch natives. These expectations were based on theory that feelings of belongingness to the neighbourhood of long-established groups are related to their ethnic/racial identity and level of rootedness in the city. These hypotheses were tested using the Rotterdam Neighbourhood Profile data from 2015 (N = 9.190). Contrary to our expectations, the results show that gentrification generally has a small positive impact on the level of connectedness to the neighbourhood. Regarding the various ethnic groups, there appears to be no difference between them in terms of the relationship between gentrification and neighbourhood belonging. The results of this article complement the discussion on the often proclaimed negative effects of gentrification in the city. Implications for urban policies, and the gentrification policy in Rotterdam in particular, are also discussed.