Thirty Years On: Gentrification and Class Changeover in Adelaide's Inner Suburbs, 1966-96

Abstract

This case study updates a long-running investigation into the revitalisation of inner Adelaide previously reported in Urban Studies in 1981 and 1991. Its value is two-fold: first, it provides an opportunity to review critically the fate of gentrification in Australia under economic conditions that others would claim have not always been favourable during the 1990s; and, secondly, it highlights the strategic role of a public housing authority as a lead agency in the process of urban revitalisation. The paper uses data on intercensal change together with an overview of the state government's urban investment policy to argue that the class transformation of inner Adelaide is now effectively complete. During the past decade, there has been a distinct improvement in the fortunes of the inner western suburbs which had previously suffered from long-term decline. The State's Inner Western Program has been instrumental in remediating badly degraded industrial land and rezoning an unused transport corridor through these suburbs and helping to lever private investment in the housing sector. Hence the housing reinvestment and class changeover normally associated with gentrification has proceeded apace right through the 1990s. After 30 years, the circle of regeneration has almost been completed on all four sides of the City of Adelaide.