I tweeted this story as “eulogistic urbanism”, which is a term I have started to apply to representations of urban change that incorporate an abject before into a shiny new present; usually while subjects of abjection (‘druggies’, ‘derros’ in the case of this story) are still living there and doubtless have a more complex subjectivity than such write-off terms allow.
Other examples close to home include Glebe’s renovated Toxteth Hotel, featuring a new gallery space whose first exhibition included “Robin Hearfield’s portrait photography of Glebe’s housing commission children, juxtaposed with the typographic delights of Luca Ionescu and Toko Design Studio.”
Repeated use of of ‘there goes the neighbourhood‘ also seems to be a feature of eulogistic urbanism, along with the hazy invocation of “hipster”.
