Revitalisation and the housing market. The Poznań district of Śródka case study

Abstract

The paper deals with current problems of urban regeneration which are interesting from the economic and social point of view. In many Polish cities, the increasing number of new initiatives of spatial changes often leads to complicated consequences that then determine the quality of lifestyles, or modify the existing models of life of residents and other stakeholders. From among various effects of town revitalisation, those connected with the real estate market were selected and analysed. It has been found that there exist links between urban regeneration and the phenomenon of speculation in the housing market. The example of the Poznan´ districtS´ ro´dka was then treated as a space enabling exposure of the process and the nature of the analysed phenomena. The adopted horizon of a 5-year flashback shows considerable temporal dynamics of the observed events. Further in the paper the specifics of the area for which the analysis was carried out has been described. The conclusions indicate ongoing market changes, suggesting the beginning of gentrification phenomena, which should rather be seen in negative terms, as a manifestation of a specific, systemic paralysis of the effectiveness of the planned and implemented processes of regeneration.