Lectio praecursoria: Gentrification in a welfare state: the case of Helsinki
Abstract
In this lectio, presented on May 4th 2024 at the University of Helsinki, I describe my journey to writing a doctoral monograph, including the challenges in studying a complex phenomenon like gentrification. Finland’s robust welfare state includes subsidized housing and housing allowances available to lower-income residents, while local policies in Helsinki have long sought to mix tenures, and together these policies have helped prevent the residential displacement and inequality which characterize gentrification processes in many settings. In this sense, classic residential gentrification has been largely absent, and where these policies have been in effect, low-income populations have remained and even increased in central neighborhoods. Yet other aspects of gentrification have flourished in recent years, driven by local and international media and efforts from local planners and enabled by planners and politicians pursuing a ‘vibrant’ urban core and an internationally competitive food scene. My research reveals a paradox of welfare and planning in the context of Helsinki, in which some forms of gentrification are held at bay while others flourish. In Finland, where gentrification remains absent from public policy and planning discourses, the historical success at preventing classic gentrification has been unintentional, and is unlikely to remain as the strength of housing policy erodes while planning for international competitiveness prevails.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Kevin Drain

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