Cross-border gentrification: housing inequalities at the Luxembourg–France border

Source abstract

This article examines how housing unaffordability in Luxembourg drives displacement and contributes to the emergence of cross-border gentrification along Luxembourg’s borders, examined here through the case of two neighbouring French towns. Housing pressures push some Luxembourg residents to relocate across the border and lead other workers employed in Luxembourg to settle there as well. From economic, exclusionary, and social forms of displacement, cross-border gentrification emerges as income disparities and restricted housing access reshape local housing markets. These dynamics are further reinforced by French state-led redevelopment operations designed to accommodate cross-border demand, where higher housing prices risk exacerbating existing inequalities. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with residents, landlords, and housing professionals, the study identifies cross-border gentrification as a mechanism through which housing inequalities and residential mobility operate across state boundaries, reproducing persistent centre–periphery interdependencies in a European context.