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Race And Gentrification. Is Gentrification Causing Segregation

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Race and Gentrification Is gentrification causing segregation in urban cities? The majority of modern day cities are in a state of steady gentrification. Many people believe that gentrification is making the city more modern, safe, and appealing to other people. However, these people in their naivety fail to comprehend the hidden consequences and impact of gentrification on various ethnic groups and low-income families. Gentrification is a master of disguise that hides itself with assumed correlations to everyday people. One such assumption is that gentrification will increase the socioeconomic diversity of a neighborhood. Lance Freeman stated “socioeconomic diversity is only increased briefly at first. Over time as more affluent …show more content…

Zukin, an avid advocate for authenticity, discussed in detail how cities are losing their authenticity. Zukin described authenticity as “a continuous process of living and working, a gradual buildup of everyday experience.” The issue is many cities are that people are now coming and going all the time to the point where everyone stays a stranger to one another, shops are always being closed and changed, and nothing is ever around long enough to create a culture that leads to authenticity. Gentrification is taking away many neighborhoods authenticity as many corporate leaders and politicians look to “clean up” areas which usually has to deal with people of color that are poor. Authenticity and racial diversity are traded for capital. This leads to segregation of less fortunate individuals and families of color. When governments or businesses try and gentrify different neighborhoods they rely on laws, pressure, and lie in order to remove the people who live in these areas. Residents who live in neighborhoods that are undergoing gentrification are either directly or indirectly displaced to ensure that only residents who are approved by those with power live in these neighborhoods. Politicians and people of power or affluence use coded laws to achieve and enforce their desired segregation of a neighborhood. Aoki describes these laws as “this spatial segregation of

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