The Gentrification Process

Urbanization is inevitable, whether we want it or not. Opposers are constantly bickering about the political and moral consequences of gentrification. This topic is indeed mind boggling and complex. However, there is a need to observe this multi-faceted phenomenon in a different angle. Change is the force of diversity, safety and

According to Sanneh, gentrification “at first referred to instances of new arrivals who were buying up (and building up) old housing stock, but then there was ‘new-build gentrification’. Especially in America, gentrification … white arrivals who were displacing non-white residents and taking over a ghetto” (Sanneh). As rent prices around the country continue to rise, more young people have been moving into historically, inner-city communities. Although this provides an affordable solution for incoming residents, it also leads to gentrification or the displacement of existing communities by wealthier

Gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban, district a related increase in rents and property values and changes in district’s character and culture. Gentrification works by accretion which is gathering momentum like a snowball. Gentrification has been the cause of painful conflict in many American cities. America’s renewed interest in city life has put a premium on urban neighborhoods, some of which have been built since World War II. It tends to occur in districts with particular qualities that make them desirable and ripe for change. Word travels that an attractive neighborhood has been “discovered” and the pace of change accelerates rapidly. An increase in median income and a decline in the

The displacement of the low-income population is becoming a larger issue in trendy cities, where the pressure for urban living is surging. These particular cities attract new businesses, highly skilled workers, major developers, and large corporations, all of which drive up both the demand for and cost of housing. In this case, the only way to combat gentrification would be to give the youth from low-income families opportunities like a top-notch education. Just because a family's income in lower does not mean they should be turned away from education. Overall gentrification is accommodating for the wealthy as they get more of a choice. The neighborhoods they move into, they bring everything with them such as the organic food and the private schools. Yet for the poor, gentrification only creates more of a divide between rich and poor. Thus this is why gentrification malicious for the

Gentrification is the process of renovating an area so that it conforms to middle-class tastes. Low-income minority neighborhoods are often the targets of gentrification, which makes this subject rather controversial, and rightly so. Gentrification often has the effect of pushing the native low-income residents out of their neighborhoods due to rising rent costs and increased cost of living. The process typically starts with young, educated, artistic, mostly white people beginning to move into predominately low-income minority neighborhoods, because they are attracted by the low housing costs and low property values compared to the rest of the city. Lofts are built and music venues are opened along with new bars and restaurants. These new developments begin to attract more traditional middle and upper-class people, they too are drawn in by the relatively low property values and begin to buy homes and renovate them. This new influx of people has caused developers to begin buying and renovating houses in the area to attract more middle and upper-class people. All the while, the native residents have been having their rents raised to the point that they can no longer afford to live in their neighborhood anymore. They are forced to relocate and attempt to find more affordable housing elsewhere. This sad cycle has been repeated countless times in cities across America. As a student at Temple University, I see this process firsthand each day in North Philadelphia as our campus

Gentrification is not always seen as bad, there are many arguments that push for change and the bettering of spaces but always at the cost of the people of color and lower class citizens. The structure of society pushes them to the bottom, never in the media is there a clear wrong doing from gentrification, at worst it is a necessary evil to better communities and cities. “These alternative geographies are predicated on difference and the spatialization of non-dominant groups; alternative geographies are points of struggle which highlight the tension between dominant geographies and difference. Thus, imaginary geographies which do not neatly align themselves with conventional geographies, knowledges which reconfigure established geographical meanings, and resistant political locations, all suggest that difference is indicative of alternative geographies and geographic struggles.” (McKittrick & Peake, 13) Difference defines space and racism, by pointing out the difference groups can gain control of the system and have power over other groups. Gentrification is the middle class using their privilege to “better” a neighborhood and displace anyone of lower class that can not afford

Many would comment that gentrification will change the atmosphere of a city. What if that meant protecting its citizens by establishing a safer neighborhood? In the article series “York&Fig At the Intersection of Change”, Marina Bellizzi, a former citizen of Highland Park, a city which is facing gentrification, was interviewed on how much her hometown has changed since she left for college. She attended a local high school in Highland Park describing her time there as embarrassing and underprivileged, “we had pregnant teenagers, we had unsuccessful teachers. So, there was a lot of shame that was thrown at going to my high school” (“Gentrifiers”). Now Bellizzi says that the high school is being “perceived as this positive place” ( “Gentrifiers”). This is one of the many pieces of evidence that prove how a safer community changes the perspective of a town. Another piece of evidence that proves how gentrification can change for the better is seen in the city of Los Angeles. According to LA Weekly, reporter Art Tavana stated that the result of gentrification in the Los Angeles area has affected the crime rate, “For the past 11 years, crimes rates in L.A have generally dropped”. The author of the article describes that demographics have changed saying “gang members on a street corner throwing gang signs are now equivalent to members of the Tea Party hanging out in West Hollywood” (Tavana). In other

Gentrification or displacement is not something that I thought about that often. It was a vague and distant thing that I heard about on the news sometimes. But it isn’t a vague and distant thing; it’s a real process happening all over the world that has real consequences. The OneDC tour of the Shaw neighborhood that my class and I went on made me realize that more clearly. In the media, gentrification is overwhelmingly depicted as a positive thing, very rarely is the displacement of the preexisting residents discussed. They don’t really talk about how the population that continuously gets the short end of the stick when it comes to gentrification is low-income black people. And it just isn’t right to push out long-term residents for the sake

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 systematically displaces the most vulnerable population from their resident communities. It is not matter of relocation for the vulnerable population, but in most instances, the exposure to a more exacerbated disparaging community and shelter source, homelessness and/or, health and behavioral issues. The costs of gentrification is that it displaces the poor and unstable along with small and unique businesses located in the community and replaces them with the wealthy.

Gentrification has its pros and its cons. Gentrification promotes community well-being, but also promotes displacement of the lower classes and inequality through this displacement. Purchasing these low-cost properties and turning them into high-class communities minus the gates promotes social and racial inequality. The process of gentrification motivates the economy, but the cost of displacement is much higher to the displaced citizens. The cost of displacement is burdensome to the already lower class of citizens being displaced.

Conversations surrounding gentrification have evolved, as many in the social-scientific community have questioned the negative connotations associated with the word gentrification. One example is that gentrification can lead to more displacement for lower-income families in gentrifying neighborhoods; however, every neighborhood faces unique challenges and reasons for displacement vary. Generally, gentrification is considered to improve the neighborhood for the people moving into the

Gentrification, upgrading of deteriorated urban communities by affluent people, is a hot topic, with a variety of different opinionated people. Some believe it is quite effective and helpful to society while others discard it as a disease that effects parts of society. There are many perspectives one can use to find positives and negatives in gentrification. Gentrification has an impact on the economy as well as the socio-cultural. Socio-culturally, it forces the lower class to move out due to the increased prices because of the higher purchasing power of the new settlers. In the article Rhetoric and Realities of Gentrification: Reply to Powell and Spencer by Peter Byrne, Byrne expresses “gentrification consists of rich people using their class and race-based power to expel poor people of color from authentic and supportive communities with the help of corrupt or befuddled city governments.” (491) However, viewing gentrification through an economical perspective helps its case. Gentrification improves the place by bringing in companies to create store in the gentrified community. Companies follow the people with buying power, therefore, as the people move so do the company stores. Gentrification is a double edged sword with more drawbacks than benefits and therefore should be ended.

Gentrification forces poor people out of their own communities and makes it harder for them to live there, thus recreating a community as rich and white. One study focused on the gentrification of neighborhoods in Atlanta as an “upgrading” of urban areas by the affluent. The journal article describes how over time, as white people enter a community, the property values and property taxes go up. As Black people’s home value and taxes increase, they are less able to pay for the living costs associated with the area, and are then forced to sell their home to a different more affluent white person. As the taxes increase, more money goes to the schools in the area, and then there is another instance where only white people are getting better education because they can afford it. Many people defend gentrification, claiming that it, as a fact, makes a community better since there becomes more value for the homes and more economic growth, however they are not considering the negative aspects and racist nature of gentrification. They don’t see gentrification as a “new” colonialism, and are not open to seeing the issues with pushing less wealthy Black people out of a neighborhood.

Gentrification has become a common phenomenon throughout many major cities in the United States and it is impacting millions. Gentrification can be dated back to the urban renewal and slum clearance, and post-war reconstruction programs implemented during the 1950s and 1960s Schaffer and Smith 1986). Although the main idea of gentrification is to, from an economic standpoint, rebuild the city and redevelop its urban core, some people are in fact negatively impacted. There seems to be a trend of the groups of people affected. Many families are being displaced from their homes due to the fact that the city is redeveloping the "urban core" and attracting many young, affluent people to live in areas surrounding it. Although, the benefits of