Saving the street? A case study of commercial gentrification as an urban strategy

Abstract

This master thesis describes the case of the Amsterdamsestraatweg. In this case, the municipality of Utrecht promotes 'commercial gentrification' as an urban strategy to redevelop this shopping street. The qualitative research carried out in this case study shows that commercial gentrification is difficult to manage, and that it has an impact on not only the physical and economic, but also the social structure of the shopping street and surrounding neighbourhoods. These two context-dependent should be taken into account when deciding to use commercial gentrification in urban planning processes.