Cities And Social Division: Annotated Bibliography

“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’,

The gentrification process can be seen through the demographic and physical changes of the South Parkdale neighborhood. Gentrification is “the invasion of working-class areas by the upper- and middle-classes, who upgrade shabby, modest housing into elegant residences, resulting in the displacement of all, or most of the original working-class occupiers”. (Lyons, 1996) South Parkdale is a neighborhood in downtown Toronto that faces problems of gentrification. This problem has been ongoing since the nineteen fifty’s’.

In the constantly changing economy of cities, the growth of city housing is oftentimes neglected. In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification” Timothy Williams recounts how gentrification has evolved over the years. Mentioning how cities have changed in order to appease the younger professionals, Williams shows how the city itself is in jeopardy due to the tax increases. Slowly loosing their faithful residents as well as historic culture cities face a big deal. Williams gives quotes from faithful residents, “…long time homeowners are victims of the success story”, (Williams 346). In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification”, Williams uses his credible quotes and modern statistics to generate the reader’s emotions, with desire to change how city officials go about gentrification in culturally infused cities.

While segregation is said the have been abolished, we can still see its effects through “second-generation discrimination” (Nieto, 2010). Nieto describes this as unequal access to learning through practices such as inflexible tracking and differentiated curriculum in different classroom and schools. When I first heard this term, it made me think about how neighborhood develop. In the cities I have traveled to I see how different areas of a town can lead to similar cultures and races forming together in specific areas. I feel this ties directly into the previous topic of funding. Every major city I have lived in had the affluent neighborhood and, on the flip side, the poor section of town. Since areas have different income levels, they will contribute to the school districts in different ways. This situation becomes exacerbated over the years as people select where to live with their families and the gap becomes wider and wider. As an Army recruiter, while not

During the past few years, gentrification has been on an uprise.“Nearly 20 percent of neighborhoods with lower incomes and home values have experienced gentrification since 2000, compared to only 9 percent during the 1990s.” Gentrification is happening in areas that supposedly need a change, such as the low-income neighborhoods in New York City, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington, D.C.Factors such as uniqueness, accessibility, the energy of the neighborhood and reasonably priced homes attract gentrifiers. It has altered many cities in the country. Gentrification can be defined as the procedure of reestablishment and remaking due to the flood of prosperous individuals into falling apart and low-income areas that frequently displaces poorer

During my interview, Dr. Owens let me know that the U.S. Census Bureau stopped collecting data on income, and referred me to the American Community survey. Furthermore, she gave me feedback on my index for gentrification, and made the suggestion to exclude race and ethnicity since affluent racial minorities can contribute to gentrification. By specifying the factors investigating and listing my assumptions, I give the a general idea of why I think that these factors are important to the operationalization of gentrification, and support my choices with what has been done in past studies. In the discussion section, I reason why this study is significant and how it could lead to subsequent policy changes. By outlining ways in which different audiences can benefit from this study, I show that in addition to extending the existing research, my study has the potential to make societal impacts across various fields. If this proposal were to become a dissertation, this section would be more extensive and would draw upon the results found after collecting all the

First, let's start with what gentrification is. Google defines it as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste”, but the image Gentrification usually evokes when brought into discussion is hipsters moving into a run-down but charming neighborhood and transforming it into something completely different. What is a hipster? Some may call them the fairy godmothers of the once neglected area, and others may refer to them as the monsters that are displacing families to make an artisan beard oil shop, but we’ll touch on that later.

In today’s society, gentrification is considered a taboo not to be spoken of unless being attacked; however, Justin Davidson, a professional critic, challenges this notion and examines both sides of this custom. As an author, architecture and classical music critic, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, Davidson approaches the issue of gentrification with a unique style of neutrality that leads his audience to question all they thought they knew about gentrifying.

Through analysing the documentary “Boom: The Sound of Eviction” demonstrating the gentrification that has occurred in San Francisco we can examine a trend that has been occurring in the socio-spatial dialect. At the beginning of the film families were interviewed who were living in the community of Mission, typically inhabited by the working class but also artists who were not white. With the increase of technology (“dot.comers”), there was an increase of job opportunities and income for the select few that were able to take advantage of a fast growing industry increasing the gap between them and the working class. However at the end of the film we see that the “dot-comers” economy failed, 80% of the businesses shutting down rapidly increasing unemployment rates. However before it failed the individuals prospering took full advantage, “cleaning up” neighborhoods as white people move in, evicting others who had resided there their entire lives simply because they could pay a

Gentrification is a practice that cultivates social displacement. This change is revealed in the change of the neighborhoods environmental aesthetics, engrossed by the belief that a rebirth of the older city was in the making.

In order to understand why developers targeted Harlem for gentrification, it is crucial to discuss the causes of gentrification. As the time has progressed people’s preference have changed. The inclination toward fewer children, higher divorce rate, women in the workforce and the postponement of marriage have encouraged people to settle in urban neighborhoods. Young women’s participation in the professional

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 has been a controversial issue both in urban planning and politics primarily due to the displacement of poor people by the rich folks (Shaw & Hagemans, 2015). Many individuals have viewed gentrification as an illegal act that should be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, another group of people believe that gentrification is the way forward to promoting growth and development. With such contrasting ideas, this paper is going to take a look at gentrification from a positive and negative perspective, its effects, and how it can be prevented or contained. Apart from this, the paper will also address the following questions.

In today’s society, it may seem that gentrification can eliminate poverty and increase neighborhood opportunities. Low-income residents and property owners will be the first to be altered by gentrification. In an email to the editor at the Atlantic, Freeman, the director of the Urban Planning program at Columbia states “ Gentrification brings new amenities and services that benefit not only the newcomers but long term residents too. Full service

In the article, “Gender, Class and Urban Space: Public and Private Space in Contemporary Urban Landscapes” Liz Bondi, puts forth her perspectives about the possible interconnections between gender dichotomy ,urban public /private space or city/suburb dichotomies and how separable or intertwined they are with each other. She attempts to further provide evidence that ‘the ideal of separate spheres’ (Bondi, Pg.162.) continues to affect our lives .She states that gentrification and class is intertwined in this dynamic interaction between gender and space. Bondi identifies these ‘dichotomies’ as duos, be it city/suburb, public /private or male/ female. She points out to the associations between masculinity -public space - city and femininity - private space - suburbs and that these interconnections are look upon as ‘ideologies rather than reality’ (Bondi 2013). The conclusions Bondi presented are based on the empirical evidence she collected which seem to lack abstractness, i.e they are specific to certain location at a certain time. But the interpretations and the data collected reflect the complex character of the urban realm, gender and the interplay between the two. They exhibit characters of being separate as well as being interwoven, distinct, ‘disentangled and a dismantled’ as well as overlapping each other. Although Bondi seems to acknowledge this complexity; she overlooks its importance in her selection of the research site and sample size.