Houses of Transformation: Intervening in European Gentrification

In 2006, Amsterdam's 66 East: Centre for Urban Culture organized a project in which artists and architects--including Theo Baart, Bas Princen, Ralph Kämena, Jannes Linders, Jeroen Musch and Hans Werlemann--examined Amsterdam's predominately Arabic and Turkish neighborhood, Indische Buurt, which had recently become home to studios and offices for the creative sector, often seen as the first step in gentrification. Adopting strategies ranging from critical commentary to activist intervention, the project and subsequent exhibition, Houses of Transformation, posits creative alternatives for urban planners, developers and administrators in responding to the inevitable and ongoing problems of urban renewal. This volume documents these strategies and proposals, while also casting a critical eye on similar neighborhoods in other European cities--including Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Brussels and London--putting the unique issues of Dutch gentrification into a larger perspective.