Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize space as a field of struggles between multiple agents.
Design/methodology/approach
The author draws from field theory and uses visual methods to explain how graffiti shapes how neighborhoods are branded and aligned with creative city redevelopment plans.
Findings
By exploring space/place as field, the author moves beyond the structure/culture dichotomy to explain both place making and displacement.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest gentrification is not an abstract force, but rather the outcome of struggles to define place and attract new, consuming populations to the neighborhood.
Originality/value
Sociologists share a long and rich tradition of associating opportunity with space that traces back to W.E.B. DuBois’ research on the seventh ward in The Philadelphia Negro (1899). More recently, sociologists have reified space and have attempted to distinguish place as an outcome of human experience. How space and place is reproduced remains unclear. This paper contributes toward the understanding of space, place-making and displacement.
