This investigation attempts to verify the presence of gentrification processes in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, based on the analysis of the indicators of Income Gap Capture and Potential Population Expulsion. For this, the debate that exists around the concept, its application in other Latin American countries and its findings, as well as the characteristics of urban development in Costa Rica since the early twentieth century are analyzed. The results show that, indeed, in the northwestern rural area of the city, there is a capture and accumulation of the income gap and the potential expulsion of the population at very high levels when compared to that found in other Latin American cities. Finally, one of the most remarkable findings is discussed: the rural character of our gentrification, and the absence of gentrification in central areas. It is proposed that this modality of gentrification can be understood from the neoliberal urban governance model of Costa Rica since the 1980s, which has marked the trend of deregulated growth of the city, making it expansive, fragmented and deteriorating and abandonment of the center, where only weak and very recent processes of urban renewal are registered.
Molina, W. (2020). Gentrification in Costa Rica: An exploratory study based on the income gap indicator. Revista De Urbanismo, (42), 32–51. https://doi.org/10.5354/0717-5051.2020.54277
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