Geographies of Dispossession in the Neoliberal City: Foreclosures and Social Vulnerability in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands-Spain)

Abstract

In the general context of the processes of accumulation by dispossession, the socio-spatial logics of evictions due to foreclosure and their incidence on the extent of social vulnerability in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, are examined. The analysis contemplates, on the one hand, the links between the real estate expansion prior to the crisis and the intra-urban distribution of mortgage foreclosures and, on the other, through case analysis, its spatiality and meaning in a socially vulnerable neighborhood. The combination of methods allows the analysis of the intensity and distribution of the evictions in the different social areas and the extension of the vulnerability that the loss of the housing entails. Results show how foreclosures have contributed to the spatial diffusion of social vulnerability and reveal, at the same time, the difficulties faced by residents in the spaces affected by such processes.