Neoliberal Gentrification: Tourism and the Socio-Spatial Transformation of New Orleans’ Vieux Carre (French Quarter).

Many scholars argue that gentrification is fundamentally different than it was in the 1970s and 1980s but they disagree over its form, incidence, and impact. We point to three major changes in the gentrification process, using a case study of the socio-spatial transformation of New Orleans Vieux Carre (French Quarter) over the last few decades. First, new forms of national and local state intervention and entrepreneurial governance have altered the local context of gentrification in New Orleans. We develop the concept "neoliberal gentrification" to refer to the role of state devolution, withdrawal, and privatization in pressuring local states to actively pursue redevelopment and gentrification as ways of bolstering the tax base and generating revenue. Second, large development firms, especially corporate finance and entertainment firms, are now central actors in the gentrification process. This "corporatization" of the French Quarter suggests that gentrification has become "disembedded" from local and national systems of finance and is increasing connected to global circuits of investment. Third, anti-gentrification movements have become more marginalized and fragmented along class and racial lines in recent years. We adjudicate between production-side and consumption-side explanations to connect gentrification to larger political and economic shifts, including the restructuring of the real estate industry and the growth of tourism in New Orleans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]