Security at the Nexus of Space and Class: Roma and Gentrification in Cluj, Romania

Abstract

This chapter explores the nexus between security and gentrification in the case of Roma people in Cluj, Romania, who were evicted from their homes in the winter of 2010 and relocated to the slum area of Pata Rât. Mireanu argues that the political economy of urban gentrification is intimately intertwined with mechanisms of exclusion and control through processes of security. He discusses the context of gentrification in post-communist Romania and how this leads to the dire situation of a ‘housing paradox’ for the Roma people—the impossibility of using the urban space due to systematic exclusions. After discussing the eviction and the relocation as assemblages of security, the author highlights the political and economic role that the Roma perform in the specific urban context of these processes.

I would like to thank Dr. Maria Gkresta, who contributed significantly to the sections on the evictions and the relocation. Earlier drafts of the argument presented here have been written together with her. My special gratitude goes to the three editors of this volume, for their numerous comments and suggestions, as well as for their infinite patience while dealing with the entire process of editing. Not in the last place, I am grateful to Peggy Birch and Chris Engert, the language editors, for clarifying my text and making it more elegant.