• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.471-486
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• 2003

Gentrification, the revitalization of inner city areas, encompasses both the changes in social and demographic composition and the alterations in the physical and economic nature of built environment. This urban phenomenon has received the bulk of attention since the 1970s, and simultaneously provided one prominent stage for the theoretical or ideological debates in the field of urban geography. Given this context, this paper deals with the consumption-based and production-based approaches to gentrification, both of which are involved in such debates. Specifically, this paper critically reviews and evaluates David Ley's and Neil Smith's explanations representing the two approaches, respectively. On the basis of the two urban geographers' seminal works published in the 1980s, this paper discusses the limitations of each explanation as a partial explanation.