Who wins and who loses in urban regeneration? What are the mechanisms at play?

Francesca Weber-Newth looks at two neighbourhoods that are adjacent to large-scale regeneration schemes: the 2012 Olympic park in London and the Mediaspree waterside development in Berlin. By analysing how urban regeneration is experienced on the ground, her study counters the notion that Olympic-led regeneration is any different from other forms of neoliberal urban development. Adopting Pierre Bourdieu's view of the social world as made up of competitive ›games , an analysis of the two neighbourhoods reveals how the concepts of ›culture and ›community are strategically employed in the ›game of urban regeneration – to the benefit of some and the detriment of others.