Gentrification and Segregation in the Process of Neoliberal Urbanization in Malabon City, Metro Manila

Abstract

While the developers of urban real estate require new, previously underinvested, in-city frontiers such as informal land in order to grow their capital, national and local governments have to look for outlying “new frontiers” to establish resettlement sites in the provinces for the urban poor. This article explores the relationship between gentrification and segregation in the process of neoliberal urbanization in Metro Manila. First, as a case study, it examines the spatial reconfigurations of Malabon City by tracing its colonial past and subsequent growth of local industries. Second, it explicates how financial capitalism has restructured the contemporary urban space and its history in Malabon causing segregation through resettlement projects. Drawing on the remaking of urban space in Malabon and the resulting resettlement project, the article identifies the relationships that paved the way for Metro Manila to become a “world class” city as well as its limitations.