About me

I am an associate professor at the Urban Geographies group at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and an associate editor for Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (TESG).

My first research was in Social Informatics, yet since I became a geographer, I have dedicated my research to understanding the politics of urban inequality. I started my career studying housing, urban policies, and urban regeneration in the Netherlands and across Europe, and it fascinated me that many renewal efforts were fueled by racialised integration politics and aimed at gentrification. These became important pillars for my quantitative, qualitative and cultural analyses of the politics of urban inequality. 

Nowadays, my research on urban inequalities  is located at the intersections of:         

• Housing policy and housing market dynamics
• Segregation, gentrification and household mobility
• Representational, symbolic and electoral politics of class
• Integration, (post)colonialism and racism in cities

Recent publications (selected)

Jeursen, T. & Van Gent, W. (fc) Gaming the City: The Monetization of Urban Affect and Homemaking in Popular Video Games. GeoHumanities, Online before publication.

Van Gent, W. & Zorlu, A. (2024) A generational perspective on owner-occupation rates among migrants and their (grand) children in the Netherlands. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 39, 1231-1252.

Zorlu, A., & Van Gent, W. (2024) Economic Assimilation of the “Third Generation”: An Intergenerational Mobility Perspective. International Migration Review, 58(2), 734-763.

Damhuis, R., & van Gent, W. (2024) The period effects of crisis and recovery on life course and residential mobility of owner-occupants. Housing Studies, 39 (4), 1066-1086.

_{For full list of publications, see tab below, and Google Scholar Profile}

Book!

Boterman, W., & Van Gent, W. (2023). Making the middle-class city: The politics of gentrifying Amsterdam. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Over the past 40 years cities in the global North - like London, Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam - changed from relatively poor and largely working-class cities to cities dominated by the middle class. How could these cities transform this way while being ruled by social democratic parties? Urban and political geographers Willem Boterman and Wouter van Gent from the University of Amsterdam reveal the mechanisms behind these transformations.  ‘Social, spatial and political transformations have come to reinforce each other in feedback loops.’

From being proud on social rent projects in the 1980s to being proud on prestigious upper middle-class residential complexes 40 years later, like those in the docklands of East-London or Pontsteiger in Amsterdam. This pride in developing ‘luxurious living’ symbolically marks the transformation of cities in the global North, argue Boterman and Van Gent. But how could a city like Amsterdam, that has been ruled by social democratic parties for over a century, and that is internationally famed for its social policies, become a place dominated by middle-class interests and where gentrification sets the tone?

In their new book ‘Making the Middle-class City’ Boterman and Van Gent present a new model for analyzing socio-spatial urban change and reveal the mechanisms behind the transformations of working-class cities into cities of which its economic base now rests on financial, business and consumption services. Cities where highly educated and increasingly affluent people have come to dominate public, cultural and social life and the urban landscape. ‘It was a contingent process that cannot be reduced to national and global processes alone, as it has been very much a local political affair too.’

Journal articles

Jeursen, T. & Van Gent, W. (fc) Gaming the City: The Monetization of Urban Affect and Homemaking in Popular Video Games. GeoHumanities, Online before publication.

Van Gent, W. & Zorlu A. (2024) A generational perspective on owner-occupation rates among migrants and their (grand) children in the Netherlands. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 39(3), 1231-1252.

Zorlu, A., & Van Gent, W. (2024) Economic Assimilation of the “Third Generation”: An Intergenerational Mobility Perspective. International Migration Review, 58(2), 734-763.

Damhuis, R., & van Gent, W. (2024) The period effects of crisis and recovery on life course and residential mobility of owner-occupants. Housing Studies, 39(4), 1066-1086.

Van Gent, W. (2024) The Polyphonic Object: Genrestuk. Amsterdam Museum Journal, 2, 147-149.

Van Gent, W., Damhuis, R., & Musterd, S. (2023) Gentrifying with family wealth: Parental gifts and neighbourhood sorting among young adult owner-occupants. Urban Studies, 60(16), 3312–3335

Van Gent, W., Brugman, G., & De Craene, V. (2023). Navigating (homo) nationalism and heteronormativity; how Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch gay/bi men negotiate belonging in Amsterdam. Geoforum, 141, 103743.

Singelenberg, M. & W. van Gent (2020) Red light gentrification in Soho, London and De Wallen, Amsterdam. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 35(3), 723 - 742.

Van Gent, W. & C. Hochstenbach (2020) The neo-liberal politics and socio-spatial implications of Dutch post-crisis social housing policies. International Journal of Housing Policy, 20(1), 56-172.

Van Gent ,W., M. Das, S. Musterd (2019) Sociocultural, economic and ethnic homogeneity in residential mobility and spatial sorting among couples, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(4), 891-912. 

Piekut, A., G. Pryce & W. van Gent (2019) Segregation in the Twenty First Century: Processes, Complexities and Future Directions. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 110(3), 225-234.

Van Gent, W. & W. Boterman (2019) "Gentrification of the changing state", Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 110(1), 35-46.

Van Gent, W., C. Hochstenbach, J. Uitermark (2018) "Exclusion as urban policy: the Dutch ‘Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems' ", Urban Studies, 55(11), 2337-2353.

Van Gent, W. & R. Jaffe (2017) "Normalizing urban inequality: Cinematic imaginaries of difference in postcolonial Amsterdam", Social & Cultural Geography, 18(4), 553-572.

Uitermark, J., C. Hochstenbach, W. van Gent (2017) "The statistical politics of exceptional territories", Political Geography, 57, 60-70.

Bailey, N., W.P.C. van Gent, S. Musterd (2017) "Remaking urban segregation: Processes of income sorting and neighbourhood change", Population, Place and Space, 23(3), e2013.

Van Gent, W.P.C., W.R. Boterman, M.W. van Grondelle (2016) "Surveying the fault lines in social tectonics; Neighbourhood boundaries in a socially-mixed renewal area", Housing, Theory and Society, 33(3), 247-267.

Van Gent, W.P.C. & S. Musterd (2016) "Class, migrants, and the European city: Spatial impacts of structural changes in early twenty-first century Amsterdam", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(6), 893-912.

Musterd, S., W.P.C. van Gent, M. Das, J.J. Latten (2016) “Adaptive behaviour in urban space; Residential mobility in response to Social Distance”, Urban Studies. 53(2), 227-246.

Savini, F., W.R. Boterman, W.P.C. van Gent, S. Majoor (2016) "Amsterdam in the 21st century: geography, housing, spatial development and politics", Cities, 52, 103-113.

Hochstenbach, C & W.P.C. van Gent (2015) "An anatomy of gentrification processes: Variegating causes of neighbourhood change", Environment and Planning A, 47(7), 1480-1501.

Van Gent, W.P.C., E.F. Jansen, J.H.F. Smits (2014) "Right-wing radical populism in city and suburbs; An electoral geography of Partij Voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands", Urban Studies, 51(9), 1775-1794.

Boterman, W.R. & W.P.C. van Gent (2014) "Housing liberalization and gentrification; The social effects of tenure conversions in Amsterdam", Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 105(2), 140-160.

Van Gent, W.P.C., V.D. Mamadouh, H.H. van der Wusten (2013) "Political reactions to the Euro crisis: Cross-national variations and rescaling issues in elections and popular protests", Eurasian Geography and Economics, 54(2), 135-161.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2013) "Neo-liberalization, housing institutions and variegated gentrification; How the 'third wave' broke in Amsterdam", International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(2), 503-522.

Van Gent, W.P.C. & S. Musterd (2013) "The unintended effects of urban and housing policies on integration: 'White discontent' in the Dutch city", Geography Research Forum, 33(1), 64-90 .

Teernstra, A.B. & W.P.C. van Gent (2012) "Puzzling patterns in neighborhood change: Upgrading and downgrading in highly-regulated urban housing markets ", Urban Geography, 33(1), 91-119.

Van Gent, W. & S. Musterd (2012) "Les transformations urbaines et l'émergence des partis populistes de la droite radicale en Europe; Le cas de la ville de La Haya", Hérodote, Revue de géographie et de géopolitique, no.144, 99-112.

Aalbers, M.B., W.P.C. van Gent, F.M. Pinkster (2011) "Comparing deconcentrating poverty policies in the United States and the Netherlands: A critical reply to Stal and Zuberi", Cities, 28(3), 260-264.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2010) "Housing policy as a lever for change? The politics of welfare, assets and tenure", Housing Studies, 25(5), 735-753.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2010) "Housing context and social transformation strategies in neighbourhood regeneration in Western European cities", International Journal of Housing Policy, 10(1), 63-87.

Van Gent, W.P.C., S. Musterd, W. Ostendorf (2009) "Bridging the social divide? Reflections on current Dutch neighbourhood policy", Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 24(3), 357-368.

Van Gent, W.P.C., S. Musterd, W. Ostendorf (2009) "Disentangling neighbourhood problems; Area-based interventions in Western European cities", Urban Research & Practice, 2(1), 53-67.

Books

Boterman, W., & Van Gent, W. (2023). Making the middle-class city: The politics of gentrifying Amsterdam. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Musterd, S., R. Damhuis, C. Hochstenbach, W. van Gent (2019) De regio als garderobe; Huishoudens, levensfasen en woonmilieus in de Nederlandse metropool. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Musterd, S., A. Teernstra, W. van Gent, Th. Dukes (2015) De buurt als jas; Dynamische huishoudens in een veranderlijke stad. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2009)  Realistic regeneration; Housing contexts and social outcomes of neighbourhood interventions in Western European cities. PhD Thesis, Amsterdam : Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam.

Book chapters

Van Gent, W. & C. Hochstenbach (forthcoming) "The impact of gentrification on social and ethnic segregation." In: S. Musterd, (ed.), Handbook on Urban Segregation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Van Gent, W., W. Boterman, M. Hoekstra (2020) "State-sponsored gentrification or social regeneration? Symbolic politics and neighborhood intervention in an Amsterdam working class neighborhood." in: K.B. Anacker, M. T. Nguyen, D.P. Varady (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Housing Policy and Planning. London: Routledge, pp.330-343.

Damhuis, R., Van Gent, W., Hochstenbach, C., & Musterd, S. (2019) "The regional and local dynamics of life course and housing." In: M. Moos (ed.), A Research Agenda for Housing. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.165-181.

Musterd, S. & W.P.C. van Gent (2016) "Changing welfare context and income segregation in Amsterdam and its metropolitan area, 2004–2011." In: T. Tammaru, S. Marcińczak, M. van Ham & S. Musterd (Eds.), Socio-economic segregation in European capital cities; East meets West. (London: Routledge), pp. 55-79.

Van Gent, W., S. Musterd, E. Veldhuizen (2014) "De ongedeelde stad onder druk; De veranderende geografie van armoede in Amsterdam, 2004-2012." In: L. Michon & J. Slot (Eds.),  Armoede in Amsterdam; Een stadsbrede aanpak van hardnekkige armoede. (Amsterdam: Bureau Onderzoek en Statistiek van de gemeente Amsterdam), pp. 47-57.

Musterd, S. & W.P.C. van Gent (2012) "Residential location and housing moves of immigrants and natives in the Amsterdam metropolitan context " in: N. Finney & G. Catney (eds.)  Minority internal migration in Europe (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing), pp 89-110.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2010) "Managing assets and risks through ownership and regeneration: Housing policies in the Netherlands", in: J. Doling, M. Elsinga, R. Ronald (eds.)  Home ownership; Getting in, getting from, getting out, Part III (Amsterdam: IOS Press), pp 101-118.

Van Gent, W. (2009) "De Noodzaak van ontrafeling van problemen in stedelijk beleid: het 40-wijkenprogramma" in: S. Musterd & W. Ostendorf (eds.)  Problemen in wijken of probleemwijken , Assen: Van Gorcum.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2009) "Estates of content; Regeneration and neighbourhood satisfaction", in: R. van Kempen, S. Musterd, R. Rowlands (eds.)  Mass housing in Europe: Multiple faces of development, change & response (Hampshire: Palgrave), pp 77-100.

Beckers, D., W.van Gent, J. Iedema, J. de Haan (2005) "Effects of ICT on social cohesion: The Cyburg Case" in P. van den Besselaar & S. Koizumi (eds.): Digital cities 2003, (Berlin: Springer-Verlag). pp. 391- 406. 

Schreiber, A.Th., I. I. Blok, D. Carlier, W.P.C. van Gent, J. Hokstam, U. Roos (2002) "A mini-experiment in semantic annotation" in I. Horrocks & J. Hendler (eds.) The semantic web - ISWC 2002, number 2342 in lecture notes in computer science. (Berlin : Springer-Verlag).

Reports

Van Gent, W., A.M Ntarladima, B. van Vulpen, C. Hochstenbach, M. Giezen, W. Boterman, F. Pinkster, V. Harris, D.J. Stenvers (2023) Gezond wonen in de regio Amsterdam; Woningmarkt, omgevingskwaliteit, gezondheid, en ongelijkheid in de metropoolregio. Amsterdam: GPIO, Universiteit van Amsterdam

Hochstenbach, C., J. Uitermark, W. van Gent (2015) Evaluatie effecten Wet bijzondere maatregelen grootstedelijke problematiek ('Rotterdamwet') in Rotterdam. Amsterdam: AISSR Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2008) The context of neighbourhood regeneration; A comparative study of nine neighbourhoods undergoing physical and social economic regeneration, Gouda: Habiforum.

Book reviews

Van Gent, W. (2023) The Commodification Gap; Gentrification and Public Policy in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg. Bernt, Matthias. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 114(1): 60-61.

Van Gent, W. (2019) "A Review of ‘Handbook of gentrification studies’, Edited by Loretta Lees with Martin Phillips", International Journal of Housing Policy, 19(1): 138-141

Van Gent, W. (2018) "Recensie: Een Ongetemde Buurt, Pieter Tops", Rooilijn 51(4), 318-319.

Van Gent, W. (2016) "Book review: Planetary Gentrification", Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 107(5), 652–653.

Van Gent, W. (2015) "Book review: There goes the gayborhood?", Urban Studies. 52(12), 2287-2289.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2015) "R.P. Hohmann: Regenerating deprived urban areas",  Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 30(1), 175-177.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2013) "Book review: Mixed communities; Gentrification by stealth?",  Urban Studies,50(6), 1311-1313. 

Van Gent, W. (2013) "De wraak van de buurt; Recensie: Robert J. Sampson, Great American city" Rooilijn, 46(6), 469-472.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2012) "A review of 'Politics of home; Belonging and nostalgia in Western Europe and the United States'",  International Journal of Housing Policy, 12(2), p. 250-252.

Van Gent, W.P.C. (2011) "Book review: Roads and ruins; The symbolic landscape of fascist Rome", Urban Studies, 48(8) , p. 1757 - 1759  .

Van Gent, W. (2010) "Book review: Jan Willem Duyvendak, Frank Hendriks and Mies van Niekerk (Eds.), City in sight: Dutch dealings with urban change (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009)", Journal of Urban Affairs,  32(5), p. 652-654.

Van Gent, W.(2009) "Bewaakt de verworpenen der steden; Boekrecensie: L. Wacquant, 2008, 'Urban outcasts', Cambridge: Polity",  Rooilijn, 42(1), p.71-73.

Dutch academic papers

Musterd, S, C. Hochstenbach, W. Van Gent, R. Damhuis (2019) ‘De regio als garderobe; gevaar bij buurtverschillen’. Ruimte + Wonen, no. 1: 90-98.

Hoekstra, M., W. van Gent & W. Boterman (2018) "Kwartiermaken als symbolische politiek in overheidsgestuurde gentrificatie." Sociologos, 39(3): 242-262.

Boterman, W. & W. van Gent (2015) "Segregatie in Amsterdam: Op weg naar een nieuwe ongelijkheid." S+RO Stedenbouw en Ruimtelijke Ordening, nr. 3, 34-39.  

Latten J., Das M., Musterd S., Van Gent W. (2014) "Te veel of te weinig inkomen voor de buurt? Dan een grotere kans om te verhuizen."  CBS Bevolkingstrends 2014, April, URL: 
http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/bevolking/publicaties/bevolkingstrends/ .

Van Grondelle, M. & W. van Gent (2014) "Wie gaat met wie om in Geuzenveld?"  Tijdschrift voor de Volkshuisvesting, 20(2), 47-54.

Van Gent, W. & S. Musterd (2012) "Een stadsgeografie van het leven",  Tijdschrift voor de Volkshuisvesting, 18 (3), 50-55.

Van Gent, W. & S. Musterd (2010) "Isolement en angst: PVV in Haagse buurten bij de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van 2010",  B en M ,  Tijdschrift voor  Beleid, Politiek en Maatschappij, 37 (2), 140-153.

Van Gent, W., S. Musterd & W. Ostendorf (2007) "Van prachtwijken naar probleemcumulatiewijken; Een reactieopminister Vogelaar en anderen",  Tijdschrift voor de Volkshuisvesting, 13 (6), p 41- 43.

Van Gent, W., S. Musterd & W. Ostendorf (2007) "Van probleemwijk naar prachtwijk; Over de problemen van een wijkgerichte aanpak",  Tijdschrift voor de Volkshuisvesting, 13 (4), p 44- 50.

Popular and professional publications

Wouter van Gent & Cody Hochstenbach (2023) Doorwerking van de slavernij en het koloniale verleden op het gebied van wonen. In: Staatscommissie tegen Discriminatie en Racisme, Doorwerking van slavernijverleden; Meervoudige perspectieven op de relatie tussen verleden en heden. Den Haag: Staatscommissie tegen Discriminatie en Racisme. 55-62.

Wouter van Gent & Cody Hochstenbach (2019) "De nieuwe stedelijke geografie: ongelijkheid en segregatie." Geografie. Online artikel. URL: https://geografie.nl/artikel/de-nieuwe-stedelijke-geografie-ongelijkheid-en-segregatie

Cody Hochstenbach & Wouter van Gent (2018) ‘Betaalbaar wonen verder weggedrukt: De sociale en ruimtelijke implicaties van de Woningwet 2015’. In: Commissie-Van Bochove, Evaluatie Woningwet: Kansen en belemmeringen voor de maatschappelijke opgave van woningcorporaties (n.p.). Den Haag: Aedes.

Van Gent, W. (2017) "Pays-Bas: Une nouvelle approche des politiques urbaines", Constructif,  N^o 46, 10-13.

Cody Hochstenbach, Wouter van Gent & Marthe Singelenberg (2017) “Stedelijk verzet uit onverwachte hoek.” AGORA, 33(2), 4-7.

Ellen van Bueren, Agnes Franzen & Wouter van Gent (2017) “Next living; Wonen komt bij het Rijk weer door de voordeur.” Ruimte+Wonen, 98(1), 4-13.

Sako Musterd, Cody Hochstenbach, Willem Boterman & Wouter van Gent (2016) "Voorkom scherpe segregatie in grote stad" De Volkskrant, 2 mei, p. 18. (http://www.volkskrant.nl/opinie/voorkom-scherpe-segregatie-in-grote-stad~a4292900/)

Ellen van Bueren & Wouter van Gent (2016) "Next Living; Opgaven voor het wonen in toekomstig Nederland" Wij Maken Nederland! URL: https://wijmakennederland.nl/bijdrage/next-living-longread/

Wouter van Gent (2015) "Gentrification is het einde van de eerlijke stad." Stadsleven Webmagazine URL: http://www.stadslevenamsterdam.nl/2015/06/18/gentrification-is-het-einde-van-de-eerlijke-stad-essay-wouter-van-gent/

Wouter van Gent & Fenne Pinkster (2014) "Onvrede is breder dan Noord."  Het Parool, 12 Juli, p.38. 

Van Gent, W. (2013) "Amsterdam condamnée à la densification"  Constructif,  N^o 35, 40-44.

Wouter van Gent & Sako Musterd (2013) "Een nieuw levensfase, een nieuw woonmilieu"  Nova Terra,speciale editie 'kennis voor krachtige buurten', Juni, p. 4-8.

Wouter van Gent (2013) "Ver-yupping dodelijk voor stad"  MUG Magazine, mei, p. 21.

Wouter van Gent (2012) "Wilders bedrijft toppolitiek"  De Volkskrant, 1 March, p. 31.

Wouter van Gent (2012) "PVV steun in ruimtelijk perspectief"  #KijkSW, 3, p 5-6.

Wouter van Gent (2011) "Stelling: Gentrification holt Amsterdam uit"  Rooilijn, 44(1), p. 7.

Annalies Teernstra & Wouter van Gent (2010) "Opkomst en neergang van Amsterdamse buurten"  GPIO Nieuwskrant, 18, p. 5-6.

Wouter van Gent (2009) "Amsterdam2040: wel bankiers, geen arbeiders"  Het Parool, 21 september, p 22.

Matthieu Permentier & Wouter van Gent (2008) "Wat kun je aan een slechte buurtreputatie doen?", in: A. Ouwehand, R. van Kempen, R. Kleinhans and H. Visscher (Eds)  Van Wijken Weten; Beleid en Praktijk inde Stedelijke Vernieuwing, pp. 68- 79. Amsterdam/ Delft: IOS Press/ Onderzoeksinstituut OTB.

Wim Ostendorf, Sako Musterd en Wouter van Gent (2007) "Prachtwijken, maar voor wie?" (2007) NRC Handelsblad, 9 October.

Wouter van Gent (2007) "Crossing borders: Optima Community Association",  A5, 21, p 15.

Wouter van Gent (2007) "Diamantjes in ringetjes passen",  AGORA, 23 (3), p 24-27.

Wouter van Gent (2007) " Bouwstenen buurttevredenheid in Europees perspectief, een goede woning scoort altijd",  Aedes Magazine, nr. 4, p 60- 63.

Wouter van Gent (2007) "Naoorlogse probleemwijken in Stockholm",  Rooilijn, 40 (1), p 30- 47.

Wouter van Gent (2006) "Terreur, symboliek en ontwikkeling",  AGORA, 22 (1), p 12-15.

Wouter van Gent (2004) "NYC 2012 needs a beach",  The Wagner Planner, October/ November.

Coordination

• Chair of the Programme Committee Bachelor Human Geography and Planning
• Chair of the Programme Committee for the Master Human Geography
• Chair of the Programme Committee for the Master Urban and Regional Planning
• Coordinator bachelors honours programme for Geography and Planning

Current courses

• Geographies of Inequality (Bachelor) - coordinator
• Contemporary Urban Transformations (Research Master Urban Studies)
• Urban Dynamics (Bachelor)