Therapeutic Planning to Identify Intangible Gentrification: The Case of Veddel Neighborhood, Germany

Abstract

This paper proposes the therapeutic approach as a solution for the deficiency of gentrification research methodologies. In gentrification discussions, the establishment of a methodological framework to guide research activities has been notably missing. Even though the subject has a more than fifty-year study legacy, the field as a whole exhibits a lack of methodological reflection and explanation of data gathering methodologies. According to Davidson (2006), the theoretical disagreements surrounding the synopsis of gentrification and the accompanying difficulty to reach a theoretical consensus elaborates how methodology has gotten so little attention in the field.

To fulfill such a gap in gentrification research, this paper explores the footprints of an intangible indirect displacement in the Veddel neighborhood in Hamburg. In this regard, an exploratory action research is conducted by having in-depth interviews with sixteen participants living in Veddel. Meanwhile, the sessions were held using a clinical therapy method called ‘schema therapy’ to identify the psychological pressures of an indirect displacement associated with the Grasbrook urban development project. The authors propose Schema therapy as an innovative meta-skill and therapeutic tool for planers that transfers the feeling of ‘victimization’ to’empowerment’. This meta-skill has a great potential to collect the narratives related to the pressures of gentrification and involve the research participants in collecting and analyzing data. Findings of the research suggest that ‘schema therapy’ as a therapeutic methodology has a crucial role in identifying and healing the pressures of intangible gentrification that have already started in the Veddel Neighborhood.