We Need to Talk About Vesterbro's Gentrification Problem
Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Photo by Erinç Salor.
This piece by Sidsel Welden published on 4 March 2015 in Vice, looks at gentrification in the neighbourhood of Vesterbro, which I also explored for City in Translation.
Welden asks:
has Vesterbro morphed into a place where the marginalized have become a mere inconvenience to the lithe new inhabitants of the blossoming youngster paradise? Or has the gentrification contributed to a diverse society where the homeless addict, the working class mother, and the rich kid can all meet and blend together in a sort of delightful urban smoothie?
and she talks to two natives of Vesterbro: Svend (53) and Laila (60) and her granddaughter Gina (24).
The place of different languages in gentrified places is one fascinating subject I also intend to explore further. An example is Flowers & Videos in Fictions.
Writer, Literary Translator, Artist based in Amsterdam.
Canan (she/they) publishes The Attention Span Newsletter, taking the time to reflect, to analyse and to imagine our societies through writing, art and culture; and City in Translation, fostering discourse and conversations around the art of translation.