Can gentrification theory learn from Airbnb? Airbnbfication and the asset economy in Reykjavík

Abstract

Urban studies have predominantly analysed the impact of short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb on cities through the lens of gentrification. However, the concept of gentrification has been applied to this platform-based urban change without considering how platform economy might alter the way scholars think about gentrification. First, this paper shows that short-term rental platforms build on the increasing use of housing by ordinary people to generate income. Second, it explores what this entails for gentrification studies. Contrary to the classical pattern of gentrification, suppliers of short-term rental platforms are not necessarily external investors but may be local homeowners in an area that is appealing to tourists. This puts local homeowners in an ambiguous position regarding gentrification patterns. On the one hand, as stakeholders providing the accommodation supply, they can theoretically benefit from short-term rental platforms by generating income from their housing. On the other hand, as long-term inhabitants, their housing trajectory can also be disrupted by the consequences of Airbnb-driven gentrification that they enable. This paper aims to disentangle the role of local homeowners in Airbnb-driven gentrification by answering the three following questions. (1) Who are the Airbnb hosts? Are they external newcomers or local homeowners? (2) Which host strategies lead to the displacement of long-term inhabitants? (3) What lines of inquiry does the ambiguous position of local hosts (as both driver and victim of Airbnbfication) open for gentrification studies?

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