Gentrification and the rent gap hypothesis: explanatory limits and possible dialogs

Abstract

This article addresses the debate on gentrification based on the combinat ion of arguments originated from supply-side theoretical models and hypotheses derived from demand-side models. It presents explanator y limits of interpretations based on the notion of rent gap, and discusses problematic aspects, such as: the lack of definition of the factors that constitute what the authors who approach gentrification from this perspective call potential land rent, and the spatial indetermination of the field of incidence of gentrification. The articulation between the rent gap argument and the thesis of the commoditization of symbolic features is suggested as a means of achieving a broader understanding of the causes and the territorial dynamics of the gentrification process.