In the period after the Second World War, Europe is confronted with a previously unprecedented urban flight coupled with the associated processes of suburbanization and urban sprawl. The exodus out of the city, however, was only reserved to those who could financially afford it. In other words, the city was left to a financially less affluent group who from the 1960s onwards – as a result of the lower prices in the rental and housing market – was increasingly accompanied by labor migrants. In this manner, the city fell more and more into the role of an “innkeeper of problems” (e.g., with respect to poverty, diversity, and unemployment). Partly in an attempt to cast off this role, some cities have commenced to focus on attracting a wealthy middle class (i.e., gentrifiers) using urban renewal projects. In Belgium this happened especially since the mid-1990s; in Ghent – our case study – since the turn of the century.

Remarkable for the Ghent case, however, is the fact that, parallel with the planning and implementation of urban renewal projects (i.e., in the period of 2000-2014), progressive educational practices increased. More specifically, during this period, the percentage of alternative schools in the urban education system grew stronger than ever before through the creation of numerous Freinet, Jenaplan, and Dalton schools. In Ghent, urban alternative education was first introduced early as 1985 by the ‘pedagogical counseling service’ of the city. This service started from a strong emancipatory ideal aimed at the children of the working class. Right from the startup, however, it was clear that the popularity of this form of education could be brought back to the interest coming from highly educated parents. As a consequence, from the very beginning, urban alternative education was plagued by an area of tension between the emancipatory ideal and the people that were reached by it.

Considering the aforementioned tension, the current contribution addresses the question to which extent the expansion of urban alternative education finds its origin in an emancipatory ideal or rather should be regarded in relation to gentrification processes. In order to investigate this, we focus our attention on the Brugse Poort, a city district in Ghent that dates back to the 19th century (originally housing the labourers of the nearby factories) and that is today characterized by a chaotic spatial ‘planning’, a lack of open space, poor housing, a high population density, and a great ethnic diversity, but where one also observes a germinating gentrification. On the one hand, an urban renewal project “Zuurstof voor de Brugse Poort” [Oxigen for the Brugse Poort], which had serious consequences for the public space, was introduced in 2002. On the other hand, the concentration of alternative schools in this particular city district stands out. Instead of focusing on the “content” of urban renewal, this contribution puts its emphasis on alternative education, more particularly the case study of de Feniks. This primary city school was founded in 1899, and provided for more than one century in “traditional” education until its final but gradual transformation to a Jenaplan school from 2000 onwards.

Billingham, C. M., & McDonough Kimelberg, S. (2013). Middle-class parents, urban schooling, and the shift from consumption to production of urban space. Sociological Forum, 28(1), 85-108. Butler, T., Hamnett, C., & Ramsden, M. J. (2013). Gentrification, education and exclusionary displacement in East London. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(2), 556-575. Butler, T., & Robson, G. (2003). London calling. The middle classes and the re-making of inner London. Oxford, England: Berg. Boterman, W. R. (2013). Dealing with diversity: Middle-class family households and the issue of ‘black’ and ‘white’ schools in Amsterdam. Urban Studies, 50(6), 1130-1147. De Coster, T., Simon, F., & Depaepe, M. (2009). “Alternative” education in Flanders, 1960-2000: transformation of knowledge in a neo-liberal context. Paedagogica Historica, 45(4-5), 645-671. DeSena, J. N. (2006). “What’s a mother to do?”: Gentrification, school selection, and the consequences for community cohesion. American Behavioral Scientist, 50(2), 241-257. Lees, L., Slater, T., & Wyly, E. (2008). Gentrification. New York, NY: Routledge. Semel, S. F. (1995). “Schools of tomorrow,” schools of today. What happened to progressive education. New York, NY: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. Steels, M. (1978). Geschiedenis van het stedelijk onderwijs te Gent 1828-1914 [History of urban education in Ghent 1828-1914]. Ghent, Belgium: Stedelijk Technisch Instituut nr. 1. Van Bouchaute, B. (2013). Gentrificatie als strategie van stadsvernieuwing? [Gentrification as a strategy of urban renewal?]. Ghent, Belgium, Academia Press.