'A literal necessity to be replaced': a rejoinder to the gentrification debate

This rejoinder begins and ends with some remarks on the gentrification strategies taking place in post-Katrina New Orleans, and responds to and builds on the commentaries by outlining, first, how the eviction of critical perspectives from gentrification research has continued, second, how displacement must be understood as multifaceted and contextual, and third, how urban researchers have become seduced by the rewards of claiming 'policy relevance'. It concludes by offering some thoughts on the state of resistance to gentrification, and how much more research is needed not just on working-class experiences of gentrification, but on how people fight for their right to place in the gentrifying city. © Journal Compilation © 2008 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.