Environmental gentrification in a post-industrial landscape: the case of the Limhamn quarry, Malmö, Sweden

The paper uses the lens of environmental gentrification and post-industrial landscapes to explore a limestone quarry converted into a nature reserve, the Limhamn quarry, Kalkbrottet, in Malmö, Sweden. The research is based on field investigations, a review of the primary material, and interviews of key actors. The findings suggest that the quarry has been subjected to processes of environmental gentrification threatening to make the quarry into a gated ecology. City ecologists, drawing on national traditions in support of common green space, working with a spontaneously appearing unique flora and fauna, have countered the environmental gentrification process by seeking nature protection status of and public access to the quarry. The paper suggests that by more fully integrating the history of industrial work, rogue subjects who now frequent the quarry illegally, and new immigrants who may find a familiar physical landscape in the quarry, the site could become meeting place for “others” and force against environmental gentrification.