Brian Beveridge: Environmental Indicators Project

In “New Axioms for Reading the Landscape: Paying Attention to Political Economy and Social Justice,” Don Mitchell incorporates old ideas from Peirce F. Lewis’s original “Axioms for Reading the Landscape.” At the same time, Mitchell includes new ideas into his axioms. In Axiom 1, he explains that “the landscape is not produced through ‘our unwitting autobiography’ (as Lewis describes it), but as an act of (social, not individual) will” (2007, 34). He also stresses the idea that landscape should be produced as a commodity. In contrast, Neil Smith explains the main causes behind gentrification. Smith explains how gentrification happens through a process which he calls “rent gap” (1979, 545). In gentrification, the landscape is a commodity because it loses and gains monetary value through disinvestment and investment.

“Words are not passive; indeed, they help to share and create our perceptions of the world around us. The terms we choose to label or describe events must, therefore, convey appropriate connotations or images of the phenomenon under consideration in order to avoid serious misunderstandings. The existence of different terms to describe gentrification is not an accident, neither is the plethora of definitions for it” (Palen & London, 1984, p. 6). SAY SOMETHING Peter Marcuse (1999) argues that, “how gentrification is evaluated depends a great deal on how it is defined” (p. 789). Defining gentrification properly is necessary for anchoring an analysis of neighborhood change, particularly in light of recent scholarly efforts to replace the term (to describe the process) with less critical names like: ‘urban renaissance’,

One other glaring example of the injustice committed by gentrification is the attack on localized social life, which in itself is a manifestation of the many wrongs perpetuated by this so called “painless” process, because before gentrification many of these areas were able to create and foster this sense of communal solidarity, which afforded and allowed them to build generational relationships, which placed an emphasis on creating a real sense of community pride. Therefore, many of the local residents took to the heart in looking out for what was best for their neighbors, thus there was not this sense of entitlement exhibited in residents, but a real sense of pride in knowing that they themselves were able to create something uniquely their own

Williams’ provides another quote, Rene Goodwin, a resident who has grown up in the city, “ To keep an urban are vital, there has to be an infusion of new people and buildings, but that doesn’t mean you destroy people who have kept up the neighborhood, who’ve swept the sidewalk”, she states. Gentrification does not always have to be in with the new and out with the old. “It’s that commitment that has made developers interested in the neighborhood and then you’re going to penalize the people who have stayed? ” Goodwin continues. Williams’ also adds that city officials need to congratulate and thank the longtime faithful residents who have been with the

For example, many cities that are rich in culture, diversity, and vitality are beacons for white people interested in the “upcoming scene.” This brings more and more whites who displace and marginalize the original residents through increasing prices. Cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco all have neighborhoods that originally had mostly poor, uneducated African Americans, and now are swelling with young, educated whites that have greatly increased the price of living. In Boston, Charlestown, Jamaica Plains, and Beacon Hill have all experienced intense characteristics of gentrification from the 1970s up until the present, showcasing an increase in the population with at least a bachelor’s degree, as well as a large increase in new and renovated buildings. In New York, the most famous example of gentrification is in Harlem, has undergone a process of gentrification after becoming known as the national, and even international symbol for black culture with a vibrancy that is not seen in the suburbs. Finally, in San Francisco, in the bay area, there has been a massive influx of affluent companies that have completely devastated the middle class due to a high rise in wealthy, educated, employees. These employees have taken residence up in the bay area, causing the entirety of the already previously gentrified neighborhood to skyrocket to unobtainable prices, even for the

Introduction- The East Bay area is an economically diverse community with many satisfactory and unsatisfactory aspects. Each city had its differences and distinctions in people, settings, and cleanliness. As the bus left the station and went around the corner I could tell that we were in a low poverty city. With loose trash and debris in front of houses and apartment buildings, the area looked torn down and not very visual pleasing. Already familiar with the city of Emeryville I knew to expect a more upscale location. With plenty of name brand stores, and new apartment complexes, it was obvious this city was clean and very different from the previous location. As the bus

When cities begin their journey of being gentrified, many locals become displaced. Displacement is when locals are uprooted from their homes, due to outside factors, and forced to move elsewhere. According to the Urban Displacement Project conducted by U.C. Berkeley, “Gentrification results from both flows of capital and people. The extent to which gentrification is linked to racial transition differs across neighborhood contexts... Displacement takes many different forms—direct and indirect, physical or economic, and exclusionary—and may result from either investment or disinvestment” (U.C. Berkeley). Many people are coming into San Francisco’s Bay Area because of how diverse each element is. However, according to Census numbers, between 1990 and 2010, 35.7% of San Francisco’s black population dwindled (Bliss). 35.7% of the black community within San Francisco suffered from displacement. An additional 53% of low-income households in the Bay Area are at risk for displacement and gentrification (U.C. Berkeley). This has definitely left a dent within the diversity reputation held up by the Bay Area. When such a strong large part of people leave, The City will experience a shift in culture and community. Whether, it is the real estate, the food, the different cultures, the Bay Area has always been known for being different. Perhaps, this is why so many outsiders are coming in and buying up every piece of land they can. Whether their intentions were to purchase land and

The term Gentrification was coined by a British Sociologist Ruth Glass to describe the movement of middle class families in urban areas causing the property value to increase and displacing the older settlers. Over the past decades, gentrification has been refined depending on the neighborhood 's economic, social and political context. According to Davidson and Less’ definition, a gentrified area should include investment in capital, social upgrading, displacement of older settlers and change in the landscape (Davidson and Lees, 2005).Gentrification was perceived to be a residential process, however in the recent years, it has become a broader topic, involving the restructuring of inner cities, commercial development and improvement of facilities in the inner city neighborhoods. Many urban cities like Chicago, Michigan and Boston have experienced gentrification, however, it is affecting the Harlem residents more profoundly, uprooting the people who have been living there for decades, thus destroying the cultural identity of the historic neighborhood.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how Robert Hammond and Josh David’s visionary idea transformed an unused, abandoned railroad line into a spectacular green space in the sky –New York’s High Line. Hammond and David were locals who believed that tearing down the railroad line was not a good idea. Meanwhile other people in the community, including property owners and Mayor Giuliani wanted the unused railroad demolished. With the help of photographer Joel Sternfeld who captured the abandoned railroad line’s overgrown greenery and fields of wildflowers that changed with the seasons, they were able to get people to recognize that this was a green space in New York city that was worth keeping.

Gentrification is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years it has become more prevalent due to many cities, especially low-income districts being renovated and rejuvenated by business and economic opportunities. Many of the cities that are being affected by gentrification are primarily sought out for renovation due to their location. Chris Hamnett views, “Gentrification as essentially a class-based process whereby working-class or rundown area of the city are transformed into middle-class residential areas often with attendant changes in commercial use” (Hamnett 467). Governments, states, and cities need to implement better the political, social and cultural neighborhood changes, including wider economic changes, related to gentrification, into the concept of displacement to understand the entirety and temporality of the process (Davidson 2389). It is easy to blame the incoming middle-class civilians for displacing the low-income/working class locals from their neighborhoods, but not having rent control is more at fault for the low-income residents' displacements.

Viewing the complex matter of gentrification succinctly, it helps to uncover how multifaceted it is; in that gentrification involves the oppression, marginalization, displacement of vulnerable populations, particularly, the poor, and the black who are often already negatively impacted by the effects of classism, and racism. Gentrification threatens to erode the communities and livelihood maintained by these set of people because their displacement becomes a precondition for the total transformation of the area.

Gentrification can be defined as the renovation and re-purposing of buildings in run-down areas in order to suit the use of higher income social groups. It also assumes the creation of amenities in the area such as shopping facilities and restaurants to fulfill the needs of the new residents (Giddens, 1997). The topic of gentrification is one that is highly debated by scholars and the general public alike, particularly due to the fact that the process and aftermath of gentrification can be felt on a concrete and tangible level by those who experience its effects. While some view it as a means of returning a level of affluence to lower-income neighborhoods, others view it as the defilement of the authenticity of an area and the ethnic elements contained within it, much to the financial and social detriment of its inhabitants. (Sheppard, 2012)

When I first got introduced to this essay in my English class we were given three broad topics to choose from: discrimination, social justice and technology. Immediately I knew I wanted to pursue an area related with social justice because technology did not interest me one bit and I have already written copious amounts of papers on discrimination. However, I was not opposed to writing about something that could be deemed discriminatory and socially injustice. So with this notion in mind, it lead me to recollect a time I was at home listening to spoken word poetry (as I usually do) and I came across a poem entitled, “If Gentrification Was a Broom Then..” performed by a New York resident locally renown for her poetry, Crystal Valentine. I remember listening to her speak with so much passion and anger about her city being gentrified that it intrigued me to learn more about what gentrification actually is being that I knew nothing about it. Upon my research I found article after article describing the horrors of gentrification, what it is, what it does and I could not help but feel angered as well seeing as though I was born in the same borough she was speaking so firmly about: The Bronx. From then on I have always had the urge to write about this issue just never given the chance to, until now. In her poem she willfully stated that, “You cannot renovate a borough without burying the people already living there,” which then begs the question: why is this still taking place if

Center City, the downtown area of Philadelphia, has numerous sections of public green space that are easily accessible to citizens within the area. It takes some residents no time at all to ride a bike through the city, or simply walk down the street and have a great experience with forms green space. Traveling through Center City, could lead some to think that the rest of the Philadelphia has a similar amount of greenery available, but this is not actually the case. In neighborhoods approximately 15 minutes away, the common sight of treeless streets, barren lots, and spaces cluttered with litter can be found on practically every block. They tend to be neighborhoods that have low household incomes or high levels of poverty. The “green disparity”

The urban environment that I live in is my nature. My nature is filled with birds, cats, grass, and flowers. It may not be as abundant with mother nature’s resources compared to most places, but it still provides me with an experience of nature. Nature is not limited to just what we see anymore. However, you must use your senses to truly achieve the full experience of nature. In nature, you must smell the wonderful odors from the flowers, you should use your sight and observe the natural beauty of the ever-changing sky, touch the rough and jagged bark of the trees, and hear the spectacular songs of the birds that fly above you.