Jersey Street : A Neighborhood Area And The Twilight Zone

“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’,

Prior to urban renewal, Pyrmont-Ultimo had residents with similar incomes. However to achieve the goal of social equity plans were made for a mixed, high-density, medium-rise residential area. Approximately 7500 new dwellings have been constructed plus the renovation of 1400 existing dwellings. The aim was to cater for all household types such as families, couples and singles, provide affordable housing for middle to low income earners, provide residential dwellings with waterfront access and with water and city views, protect existing housing, retain a socially diverse residential population which includes all income groups, provide opportunities to live close to places of work and to create a high quality urban environment. The provision of affordable or public housing was an important aspect to consider in the process. Without some sort of intervention to provide this affordable housing, the attractiveness of living close to Sydney’s CBD would only be reserved for high income earners as dwellings would be too expensive and rent would be too high. From a social equity point of view it was therefore vital to provide

Housing and Zoning Crowded, lots of brick and cement; few parks, cars parked very closely together on street. Some areas show severe urban blight.

One of the geographical characteristics of cities is the proportion of low-lying areas that exists. Studies have been carried out to examine residential segregation. The theory that was being studied was whether

Furthermore, lack of affordable housing has become an issue for additional reasons. 50,000 new homes were built since 1981 but only 8000 were local authority housing, and only 2000 were low income houses. This was worsened by the implementation of the ‘right to buy’ scheme, creating a surge in house prices (a 1 bedroom apartment now costs around £500,000). It could be suggested that this issue counteracts successes of the scheme, as issues still exist including 3500 homeless people in the area and the housing prices are significantly above the UK average, so they have not achieved their aim to ‘make housing affordable to all.’ However, I believe that the Docklands has been a successful example of regeneration as it is now such a significant part of the capital, with it being London’s finance capital providing not only important economic contributions, but also employment to many people in the skilled sector.

A mix of housing age, old houses ( 40-100 years old predominant) and new housing developments

Residential, commercial and industrial development is the largest contributors to landscape change in the state of New Jersey. When buildout occurs in one region, development pressure begins in another, virtually insuring the Megalopolis concept of one huge urban corridor stretching between Boston and Washington D.C. Year after year, farmland dwindles, roads become congested, and more residents are left to compete for diminishing natural resources. Desperate measures and newer technologies are incorporated to replace poor planning and lack of vision on behalf of decision-makers caught between competing interests. When the long term health and wellbeing of the established population and the short term gain of a

Two economic factors affect supply in a stable housing market, price of related goods or similar houses, and the price of the good, best represented by style or size in the case of the housing market. The affluence of a community typically determines how much homes sell for in those communities, and therefore communities where a lot of people want to live become areas where average home prices are high. (Kumar, 1) There is little space in these affluent communities, and therefore little supply. A good example is New York City, where no homes are available, only apartment buildings, and very few apartments are actively exchanged each year.

Culture may seem trivial to some but to me it made all the difference. Culture expounds upon the arts, music, foods, and family traditions. However, in Jersey City the norm/culture was drugs, violence, and poverty, which I hated. Growing up within my home we didn’t have traditions/culture that we followed. My family was distant and my dad wasn’t in my life. It made it hard at school to relate with my peers and that was intimidating. This forced me to broaden my horizons of the world and I began to change in many ways. I started reading more, and became more interested in nature, music, anatomy, and the arts, producing a tangible, positive impact in my life.

Multiple reasons exist for the the lack of affordable housing. On the demand side these include population growth and increased migration to urban areas, easily accessible housing finance, tax incentives and a “strong cultural preference for owner-occupied detached houses”. On the supply side, affordability problems are exacerbated by inflexible and slow responses to the need for new housing stock, lack of infrastructure and generally inefficient planning processes and development assessment by local governments.

High Density is said to be the future of residential housing, although not everyone agrees to this way of thinking.

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.

Burgess’s concentric zone theory was presented in 1924. He presented a descriptive urban land use model that divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from downtown to the suburbs. His representation came from Burgess’ observations of various American cities, especially Chicago. Burgess model assumes a relationship between the socio-economic status of households and the distance from the Central Business District. The further from the district, the better the quality of housing, but the longer the commuting time. Making this Accessing better housing is done at the expense of longer commuting times and costs as well. According to Burgess, urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land uses, with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the outer zone. According to Burgess’ theory, a large city is divided in six concentric zones, Burgess’s model has its cons according to critics. It is said to be a product of its time. That is, it won’t work the same with present cities. The model was developed when American cities were growing very fast and when motorized transportation was still uncommon as most people used public transit. Thus the concept cannot be applied to those from the second half to the twentieth century where highways have enabled urban development to escape the reconversion process and to take place directly in the suburbs. The model in this case was developed for American cities and is limited elsewhere.

In this report, the question “How much of the changes in the median selling price of homes in a city can be explained by the changes in median income of that city?” is answered. Home ownership is an important aspect of one’s life stages, and home prices are determined by demand and supply. The demand curve is affected by the one’s income, such that as one’s income increases, one is more willing to pay a higher price for the same quantity of goods (Baye & Prince, 2014). However, there are many other factors that might affect the demand curve, e.g. no. of children, in the household, the perceived quality of education in the school district, or the number of job positions (filled or open) around the city. According to Burda

This report examines the housing affordability crisis in Auckland, the current situation of the housing market, and extent of this problem. Auckland is in a deficit of houses due to the difference in demand and supply factors. The demographic and economic factors are the main reason for the increase in demand for houses. The supply side is not performing up to the mark to satisfy the demand in the market. The first home buyers are finding difficulties to make choice on their housing needs. The median households are struggling with the high rentals in Auckland market. Lower income households with faces a greater affordability pressures than those are living outside Auckland. There is a shortage in land and houses that are affordable for lower income households. The report suggests some new factors that can be considered to solve the affordability crisis.