Another Way to Understand Gentrification
Introduction
As urban development progressively changes people’s living behaviors, gentrification has created new urban movements for everyone to follow. It refers to the special migration in population who is seeking either a better living space and/or a better employment environment through an intra-city moving. As many studies have discovered, the future global population growth will only take place in the urban area. It is projected to be a 70% of the 9 billion future populations to live in cities in 2050. (Maarten Hajer 61) As the observable trend along with the major bus routes in San Francisco and Oakland, it makes people believe that gentrification will become an unpreventable force to
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(Figure 2) As Rojas disclosed for the similar urban pattern in Los Angles, the physical restructuring highly depend on the regional racial characteristic and everyday live experience. (40-42)
The symbolic meaning of figures and printing scheme reflects how local community describes the culture environment through their own ways. The style of street art well reflects the desire of local resident. Some symbols, as shown in Figure 2, make the community to be aware of the special atmosphere and culture identity. Local artist choose to draw their living attitude and personal impression on visible urban space to enrich the texture of Gentrification. Given the special setting, the visual impression of a community can be the best reflection of the appealing of gentrification.
Unbalanced Housing Development
Gentrification also describes diversified urban housing developments. Many historical cases has proven that natural forces will drive the urban development towards the way that is in favor of market economy. For instance, Federal Property Owner of Detroit refused to accept racial heterogenetic communities in the city since the mid 1940s; it created times of conflict that lied in homeownership right and civil right. (Sugrue Thomas 218-220) As a more desirable living environment is created, property prices go up in the central business district and stimulates price of living. The special clustered pattern then attracts more capitals to move in and pull firms
One urban problem these immigrants face when arriving to Los Angeles is having a lack of education, and not being able to become educated properly. According to “5 Challenges Facing the Hispanic/Latino Community in the U.S.”, by Elias Moitinho, “Hispanics/Latinos have low levels of educational attainments” where “the high school dropout rate among Latino youths (17%) is nearly three times as high as it is among white youths (6%) and nearly double the rate among blacks (9%).” This issue facing Hispanic immigrants as they settle in Los Angeles can be related to poverty where “reportedly, 5 million Latinos (one-third of their total number) are living in poverty in the state” of California (Palash Ghosh). Considering how poverty is relevant to Hispanic immigrants, this leads to fiscal problems where services such as public education lack funding, resulting in an education crisis. Another urban problem is the issue of transportation use. Hispanic immigrants require transportation to get to their locations such as work, and many rely on public transportation due to their economic conditions. These immigrants reply on “a diverse transportation network” that is “especially important for those without cars, which includes…17 percent of Latino… households” (Manuel Pastor). Another urban challenge immigrant Hispanics face is settling in areas
A study by The Urban Institute describes gentrification as “a process whereby higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, escalating the area’s property values to the point that displacement occurs.” Gentrification generally takes place in deteriorating urban or rural areas. The purpose of gentrification is to take struggling neighborhoods and stabilize them by increasing property value. Naturally the system isn’t perfect, as it has the side effect of displacement, which can cause some people to have to move to a different location, but overall gentrification is much more beneficial than destructive on a large scale. All neighborhoods have to be improved eventually. Gentrification is simply the most effective way of doing it. Although there are some negatives associated with Gentrification, in the long run it succeeds in creating a better place for people to live, and the pros far outweigh the cons.
According to Stacey Sutton, PhD, member of the Department of Urban Planning and Policy, in her New York Tedx talk, gentrification is fundamentally a social justice problem.” This means that gentrification has many effects to its neighborhood and its residents. One main problem that gentrification had brought was displacement. Due to changes in the urban neighborhood, prices of living had increased, where many of the renters have no choice than to leave the neighborhood because it's unaffordable. As Tom Slater, an urban geographer, said, “gentrification is the spatial expression of economic inequality.” When higher class people moved to an urban area and invest and take advantage to a low property, it raised the property value and displaced the people who cannot afford it, hence, the low income people.
The polls showed that these ethnic groups have been denied twice as often as whites at 40.5% to 20.6% ratio. These calculations where taken on groups which had relatively similar if not same backgrounds such as income and credit. Refinance loans and home-improvement have had a similar ratio as well. This goes to show that if minorities could even afford certain residential areas, they would once again be troubled and restricted from resource access.
Gentrification presents itself when outsiders enter an urban community, commonly densely populated with people of color, and through complicit actions wards off the residents within. As the area begins to gain popularity and appeal, the soaring property prices create an incentive for the property owners to rid of the tenants to make room for the newcomers. Furthermore, corporations begin to supersede homes and exploit defenseless communities. Although the newcomers do tend to improve these previously indigent neighborhoods, it comes at the destruction of the cultures that exist within said neighborhoods. Therefore, the amenities of the communities of color enervate in the name of gentrification.
Gentrification has been a huge issue and it is still affecting us today. Everyone has a different point of view toward this subject. The city government and house owners would think that gentrification is beneficial because the neighborhood would have less crime, a better looking neighborhood, and more jobs. Contrary to this belief, other people believe that is affecting the area for the worse. The long-time and low-income residents of the neighborhood would feel this way towards gentrification because people lose their houses due to the overpriced rent.
So with spatial mismatch becoming a bigger issue as time went by, city gentrification became a routine for all cities creating even more disparity in ranges of wealth. People who have lived in their homes for a long time are now being forced out by plans to incorporate more businesses and malls. Property taxes began rising and as the city centers changed, people weren’t able to afford products in their own communities anymore. They dispersed to different sectors of the city, some moving completely out of the city. Gentrification not only affects where people live. It also affects local businesses. Small business owners can’t keep up with the rent because the community around the owners are now very high in value with new businesses, condos,
Gentrification is the extensive process of rejuvinating a specific part of a city and or town that has been soddened with poverty and deterioration, due to an underlying neglect. These attempts at re-birth of a city are becoming more and more prevalent, so it draws out the overwhelming question, is it helpful or harmful to developing neighborhoods? Gentrification can not be topical with kitchy coffee shops where you pay for the ambience which includes pretty foliage potted in whimsical objects that are all being re-purposed, sitting on rustic wooden tables that are adorned with industrial furnishings. As well as the overpriced fair trade cup of coffee that the pretentious barista contrieves. And the ostentatious frozen yougurt shops will walls
Gentrification has brought conflict in numerous major cities in America, including New York City, usually involving issues of race and finance. The alteration of communities has been viewed as the malfunction of society, where rich predominantly white folk are praised for making a district “better”. It is in these same neighborhoods where minority occupants are forced to leave their homes due to inflamed rents. People should not be forced to move out of their homes with the intent of “improving” the neighborhood. (Flag Wars) Gentrification also gives rise to a moral standpoint for poor communities: is it really humane to knock down a building occupied by the working and lower income families with the intent to build a business that you are so certain will be a success?
Gentrification and displacement is not talked about as much as other social problems. Gentrification happens when rich people come to urban communities and change the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of a community. Gentrification around the world is mainly happening in poor urban communities. The comparison of the Netherlands, London and Vancouver will explain cultural, social, and political displacement caused by the new age of urban renewal. Big corporations build up urban communities which bring economic stability to neighborhoods, and the low-income residents are forced out.
When considering the complex definition and various factors involved in this process, one thing must remain clear that it is driven by the private sector and is the result of capitalism's relentless pursuit of profit. The very sector of society that has control and influence over all levels of government in the United States, and is thus able to create policies that help to facilitate and increase gentrification in communities around the country, as well as those outside the United States. This far-flung reach is due to the nature of multinational corporations
Metropolitan segregation can be seen from both micro and macro levels, this divide is apparent through racial segregation across communities and also by examining the outcomes of district and industry zoning. Laden in urban segregation is the process of gentrification, which acts as an agent of change regarding spatial relationships among different social groups. Segregation has always been a component of the urban dynamic, this structure of divide has shifted and metamorphosed as a result of inevitable changes over time. These evolving social, economic and political frameworks must be addressed in order to provide a thorough study of the motives behind segregation, as well as the resulting ramifications.
Jackelyn Hwang and Robert J. Sampson argue that racial hierarchy governs residential selection and in turn gentrifying neighborhoods. To observe and detect cues of any neighborhood change they used Google Street View. In Chicago from 2007 to 2009 it was concentrated of blacks and Latinos in the neighborhoods that showed sign of gentrification. Gentrification is often used negatively suggesting the displacement of poor communities by rich outsiders.
These are some of the alternative solution to posed gentrification at the city of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles. So, have in mind that gentrification is controversial process. It’s clear enough that it only affect the urban development of the cities. But the problem of gentrification needs to be research more for feather results.
Each of the three characteristic contribute to economic growth that subsequently affects social and spatial relationships within global cities. Sassen states that, “Research covering the last two and even three decades shows sharp increases in socioeconomic and spatial inequalities within major cities of the developed world and now increasingly also in cities of the global South” (Sassen, 241). With the rise of global cities and an increase in socioeconomic inequalities comes gentrification. Gentrification changes the market for everyone, as property values go up, people become displaced and homelessness becomes a bigger problem. Gentrification in a global city is the desire for culture, restaurants, museums, bars, day-care, etc. Examples of