Selling densification through ecology: urban greening and the green growth machine in Switzerland

Source abstract

While the role of urban greening as driver of gentrification in cities worldwide has been researched extensively, recent studies have pointed toward a more complex and ambivalent relationship between greening and gentrification. Empirical evidence has suggested that greening can sometimes be a consequence of gentrification, instead of a cause. Addressing ongoing efforts to disentangle the process of green gentrification, I focus on the role of the green growth machine. I argue that, rather than two distinctive processes, greening and gentrification are two sides of the same coin. My argument builds on two case studies of urban development projects in Switzerland, a country undergoing processes of densification, financialization, and gentrification similar to many other geographical contexts. Rather than identifying a linear relation between gentrification and greening, as previous quantitative studies have done, I rely on qualitative data to illustrate how the green growth machine produces both greening and gentrification. The article shows how ecological and densification agendas are conveniently combined by growth-oriented actors to “sell” urban growth, both economically and politically. Greening projects function as a sustainability fix, becoming instrumental to growth imperatives. I conclude by underlining the green growth machine as a key factor in the analysis of green gentrification.