Designer Neighbourhoods: New-Build Residential Development in Nonmetropolitan UK Cities—The Case of Bristol

Abstract

New-build city-centre residential development in the UK has increasingly been identified as a form of ‘third-wave’ or ‘postrecession’ gentrification. The aim of this paper is, first, to extend our understanding of new, developer-led, residential development in the context of nonmetropolitan urban areas in the UK, which it does by means of a case study of the city of Bristol. The second aim is to revisit the issue of whether such residential development should be seen as a form of postrecession gentrification and to question the meaning of the term ‘gentrification’ as it has been increasingly used in a global context. This discussion draws both on a detailed case study of Bristol and on a critical reading of Davidson and Lees (2005, “New build ‘gentrification’ and London's riverside renaissance”, Envronment and Planning A 37 1165–1190) account of new-build ‘gentrification’ in London's riverside. In conclusion, it is argued that these forms of residential development and investment flows reflect a powerful and complex set of processes which it is important to understand. In contrast to Davidson and Lees, however, the conclusion is also that the extension of the term ‘gentrification’ to embrace such forms of development stretches it beyond the point at which it retains utility or meaning.