Neighborhood Observation

Over the years, gentrification has been given many definitions from simply referring to, “…instances of new arrivals who were buying and bidding up old housing stock”, (Sanneh, 2016) to, “…disinvested areas of the city that are now experiencing rapid and significant increases in land and real estate values” (Jennings, Terrell, Douglas, Barnett & Harding, 2016, pg. 9) and many more. As noted previously gentrification is occurring throughout the world and the Midwest is not immune. The process of gentrification tends to go like so: visitors stumble upon a disinvested area that they take an interest in. Whether because the rent is cheap or the area is vibrant, they fall in love and decide to pack up their home and relocate. This scenario, from one point of view, can be seen as a story of a person deciding to broaden their horizon and see what other parts of the world has to offer. While the other point of view may see this as a possible financial burden, a cause for the major changes in the place they call their home and the likelihood of displacement.

I thought cities had more diversity, more poverty, and low income household than suburb areas and this was supported by the above data. I learned that the increase of wealth and income in a small community hinders the rest of community where middle and low income families live. The ability to live in a “good” neighborhood is linked to income. Income can be one of the factors that determine how a region can be segregated. Even in the city, the income of the household separates the lower income families from the higher income families. High income families tend to live together and low income families tend to live in the same

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, gentrification is defined as the renovation and improvement of a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste (Oxford English Dictionary). This definition absolutely fits the description of the current transformation of the inner City of Baltimore. When we look at neighborhoods such as Westport, Federal Hill, and Canton, it is evident that gentrification is on the City of Baltimore’s agenda. During the last two terms that Mayor Martin O’Mally has presided over the city, there have been many changes in administration and the population that are causing devastating effects on the city’s blue collar residents. The Baltimore City

How exactly does a neighborhood become gentrified? First, analyze the word. According to Dictionary.com, gentrification is defined as, “the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses” (“Gentrification | Define Gentrification at Dictionary.com”). Usually, the terminology has a negative connotation associated with the meaning. Considering that the phrase links affluent residents, mostly white, to capitalizing on inexpensive real estate located within the ghetto. This was recognized in Bed-Stuy during the mid-nineties. Furthermore, the newcomers are eventually praised

Residential segregation is a wide spread topic of discussion throughout cities across the United States. With population in larger cities growing, the separation of groups into neighborhoods is common — placing different standards of living on each section depending on the wealth and race of the inhabitants. In There Goes the Neighborhood: Racial Ethnic, and Class Tensions in Four Chicago Neighborhoods and Their Meaning for America William Julius Wilson and Richard P. Taub explore a new areas of Chicago and the residential segregation taking place there by creating a

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.

Fixing food deserts is about more than just building grocery stores in low-income areas. There is much more that can be done in communities to build a strong food system. It is challenging, nearly impossible, to state the be intervention practices for food deserts. It is difficult to implement the same intervention in all communities, because no two communities are exactly the same. Nevertheless, interventions and policies of the past give other policy makers ideas for intervention in their own neighborhoods; an intervention built on the community’s

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Philadelphia experienced the most gentrification between the years of 2000 to 2014. Out of 356 communities, only 15% of them experienced the effects of gentrification during that period. Many of the newly gentrified areas, for the most part, are located in Center City, or around already gentrified neighborhoods in West and South Philadelphia, or near the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. The previously gentrified neighborhoods had gentrified during the years of 1980 to 2000. To understand the effects of gentrification on housing, diversity, and economics the differences between gentrified communities like North and South Philadelphia, and non-gentrified neighborhoods like

Although the United States is seen as a top tier nation among the countries of the world, we still have problems such as the growing rate of food deserts. As Americans, we need to put an end to this and do everything within our power to help reduce food deserts. Some policy relevant issues that need to be addressed include the concern of low-income neighborhoods across the country having little to no access to supermarkets that provide affordable, healthy, fresh foods. These neighborhoods consist of impoverished areas where diseases such as obesity and diabetes are on the rise and general health is on a downwards

Human Geographer David Ley defines Gentrification as “the transition of inner-city neighborhoods from a status of relative property and limited property investment to a state of commodification and reinvestment.” (Ley Artists 1) In the past 50 years gentrification has swept over cities across the globe and has completely reshaped the way people think about why people live in certain neighborhoods. British sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term gentrification in 1964 to describe what was happening in the London borough of Islington, where Indian immigrants were being forced out in favor of creative young professionals. (Thomson). The term comes from the old english word gentry, which generally means wellborn well-bred and upper class people. For the most part of the last five decades gentrification has made large cities and downtown urban areas safer, more desirable for commercialization, more affluent, greener and more eco-friendly and has played a role in the vast change of demographics of many neighborhoods. This ‘urban renewal’ has been subject to many political debates, academic studies and research to figure out its positive and negative impacts on the socioeconomic nature of the cities it takes place in. Here on the eastern seaboard of the US we see gentrification in every city from Center City Philadelphia, to Chelsea, to Columbia Heights in DC. However this movement to gentrify is not reserved for the

Gentrification mostly occurs in low class neighborhood because it tends to have cheap housing ,and also because it have old buildings and this called the attention of people to renew it. “Few people are willing to move into an unfamiliar neighborhood across class and racial lines¹. Once a few familiar faces are present, more people are willing to make the move.” ("POV." PBS). This means that one people from another race that move into another neighborhood can make a big difference because by the time familiar faces will move in and this make.

Though it seems a daunting task, food deserts can be conquered. Morton and Blanchard (2007) believe there are key points in this. For starters, they believe the focus on economic development to mitigate population loss is a central reason for the exodus of local grocers. Therefore, targeting federal food and nutrition programs to areas designated as food deserts in rural America is key. In these efforts, advocating for advantageous wholesale prices and distribution networks is essential. Furthermore, shopping locally and creating campaigns to buy locally can revitalize rural neighborhoods and increase the community tax base. Connecting local food producers to local markets is mutually beneficial; as fresh, high-quality foods are needed to hold

A portion of Brooklyn that still remains true to its character as gentrification continues to seep down the blocks of New York like a white blood from its head in Williamsburg. I don’t know if gentrification will make it to Brownsville, but still to this day, Brownsville has the highest concentration of Low-Income housing developments in NYC. As Bedstuy, Bushwick, and many other neighborhoods across Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, have suffered from gentrification, Brownsville still seems to remain true to the people who have called it their home for almost 100 years. The reason for this may be because of this high concentration of housing projects, as “gentrification” has developed in the low rent prices and realestate prices of the New York “hoods,” these “new

“Food Desert” refers to an area in a rural or even urban region with little or no access to big grocery stores that provides affordable and fresh food for people to have a healthy diet. These areas are mostly composed of low-income households who are often Hispanics and African-Americans (Ploeg and Breneman et al). They are often “trapped” in a geographical location where only small convenient stores, which do not have sufficient supply of all common, fresh and healthy food, are available. Currently, there are 13.6 Million Americans who have difficulties in accessing to super markets and large grocery stores. People living in such areas with limited access to grocery stores spend 19.5 minutes more to travel, comparing to the people living in non-food-desert areas (Ploeg and Breneman et al).

Corporations are taking over the urban landscape. In previous years, many upper and middle class families fled to the suburbs to escape the everyday hustle of city life. However, in recent years, city living has become glamorized and thus the movement back into the city has increased. Once blighted inner-city neighborhoods are being taken over and revitalized by corporate leaders in hopes to redesign and yuppify these areas. As more money is put into the area, the higher the market value goes up and as a result, many local residents can no longer afford to live there. While these residents are pushed out, a more ‘desirable’ group of residents move in and thus, take over. This process, known as gentrification, is occurring in many cities all across the nation. In the past, displaced residents could possibly move to another area that was not undergoing this process. However, as we are seeing in Chicago, it is nearing impossibility to move to an area within the city that will not