From Extravagant Movie Theatres to Lowly Bomba Houses: Investigating the Degeneration of City Spaces Along Claro M. Recto Avenue, Manila

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’.

Through a multitude of significant changes physically, conceptually, economically, and more, the societal reformation of cities in the Progressive Era had set themselves as the foundations of American civilization. The juxtaposition between the rich and poor statuses in these urban areas show the drastic separation within developing cities. Through this division caused a wide variety of living conditions, the majority of which held the overcrowded sections of cities where the population mostly stayed while the higher end communities had more luxurious lives. Through this success of entrepreneurship and economic growth from all aspects in cities, the entire landscape, both physically through innovative architecture and the perspectives outside rural and suburban areas had on them, had transformed for the better in these areas.

Over the past twenty years, San Francisco’s Mission District has experienced a tremendous amount of change. Similar to many neighborhoods across the United States, it has been undergoing a gentrification process in which increases in housing prices, redevelopment in buildings, and a shortage of rental units have left many of its low-income population homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless. In order to understand the controversial issue revolving around the gentrification process taking place the Mission District, it is essential to know the history of the Mission District, San Francisco’s geography and housing laws, and the socioeconomic impacts of gentrification.

Gentrification is an existential threat in the Bay Area due to urban renewal, spatial capital, and inequity. This threat can best be described as the process of residential or commercial use of an urban area shifting towards higher economic classes (Center, 199). The process of gentrification has caused many native residents to be displaced from their homes, as well as being forced to move further out of the area or become homeless. Neighborhoods that were once oasis’ for the working class are shifting and becoming too expensive for the people who live there. Food and job insecurity are two forms of inequity that contribute to gentrification practices. These three factors are key in the gentrification that is threatening Bay Area residents.

Inequality has been the country’s timeless struggle. Throughout the course of the United States’ history, there have been processes that have given a certain group of people the upper hand in a circumstance, thus fueling inequality in our nation. An ongoing process that negatively effects the lower-class and benefits the

Introduction The study of urban spaces, especially with respect to gentrification, has increased dramatically in significance and relevance in the past several decades. With the resurgence of city living’s popularity, urban revitalization has occurred in neighborhoods across the United States and brought with it significant economic and social change.

As a neighborhood that has always been regarded as low-income the newly renovated downtown and plaza area is a distinct contrast to it. “El Segundo Barrio had some of the worst housing conditions in the country. Once compared to the poor, slum areas of Kolkata, India, the city gradually made improvements to the neighborhood.” (Natassia Bonyanpour). Gentrification can be threatening to the history of this neighborhood, but the remnants of the early days of immigration, the “Chicano” movement and “Pachuco” lifestyle of Zoot Suits and black leather pointed shoes, will always be embedded into the street signs and sidewalks, as long as people still call the neighborhood

“Just pack your stuff, baby”, the mother replied in a thick accent. Many families have been replaced in order to create a more refined neighborhood suitable to the tastes of the middle class. Benjamin Grant brings forward the idea of the positive effects of change and Barbara Eldredge presents insight to the negative effects of gentrification. Gentrification - “the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district’s character and culture” became a common shift in the early 1960’s (Grant). The definition of gentrification has gone through

Gentrification is generally usually picked implies, or possibly endeavored means, of reviving focal urban areas that have fallen on harsh circumstances. Gentrification is the way toward supplanting the poor populace of an area with the rich and reorienting the region along upscale lines. Gentrification grant has concentrated on characterizing the term and its starting points, understanding its results and perceiving gentrifiers ' identity and why and how they gentrify neighborhoods. The dislodging impacts of gentrification have been a focal concentration, despite the fact that in the previous decade researchers have likewise inspected gentrifiers including their inspirations and encounters and how gentrification mirrors their tastes and

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.

These improved housing will increase the neighborhood and property value, increase social mixed, reduce crime rate, and reduce vacancy rates. While the superficial key of gentrification is the upgrade of housing, there is actually other great benefits that gentrification bring to the neighborhoods. In terms of symbolic implications for urban change, gentrification is the urban changes and improvement which also redevelop the area’s image. Fancy restaurants, high-priced boutiques and shops, high houses’ values, and fancy house have changed the neighborhood's image or symbol from a rural neighborhood (before gentrification) to a high-class neighborhood (after gentrification). Gentrification has certainly restructure the economic of one’s neighborhood by bringing up new standard in consumption. The decrease in crime rates and increase in property value can stabilize the previously struggling neighborhood, restoring interest in the inner city life as a residential. These changes are able to encourage other forms of development of the area that promote the economic

Gentrification takes place everywhere, in cities and suburbs across the globe. When upper- or middle-class families move into an area inhabited by those with lower socioeconomic standing rents increase, businesses close and lower-income residents are forced to leave. Where once a local convenience store catered to the needs of the nearby working-class, a posh new dance club adjoins a high-priced sushi bar (Garcia-Navarro). As a neighborhood grows more attractive to outsiders looking for an affordable place to live, locals are forced out of an area, a city, and often their jobs. This happens in urban areas all over the world, and one place where it has become particularly evident is the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

V. What Alternative solutions are posed? Gentrification is a problem that is occurring in many communities. The city of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles is one of the communities that the citizens of the community are notice new apartments build, galleries owner by rich people, and high prices for

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.

“The best that can be said of the conception is that it did afford a chance to experiment with some physical and social planning theories which did not pan out. “ This quote reflects Jane Jacob’s philosophical ideas in an attempt to criticize the social housing’s design approach and its