Gentrification Position Paper : Gentrification

When a neighborhood is gentrified it will not only change the image of it, but also the services available there (Al-Kodmany 2011, 62-63). In other words, gentrification does not only have an impact on the physical aspect of the land, but also the resources that lie there. During the 90s, the Near West Side neighborhood located near Loop, an up-scale neighborhood, sought drastic changes within the area. The changes in racial demographics in the Near West Side indicated that the health risks that affected minorities dropped in the past decade (1992-2002) (Al-Kodmany 2011,

Now days walking down the streets of Atlanta, we see the new neighborhoods consisting of condos, Starbucks, yoga classes and Chipotle. Gentrification is a growing problem in urban areas as the influx of the riches have caused the displacement of lower class families due to higher economic demands and local politics. According to Diane K. Levy, Jennifer Comey and Sandra Padilla (2005), “We define gentrification as the process whereby higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, escalating the area’s property values to the point that displacement occurs. In addition to changes in economic class, gentrification often involves a change in a neighborhood’s racial and ethnic composition…” (p.1). Though gentrification has lasting affects on the economic status of cities, there are also repercussions that not only effect working individuals but also the students that attend school in these gentrified areas. When areas are gentrified, schools are rezoned thus leading to long lasting consequences that students must face. Some believe that gentrification is beneficial to a growing economy in a growing city, but the realities of the its lasting effects on education are often left under the radar. The issues that lie within the education system as it pertains to gentrification include day segregation and unequal opportunities between affluent and low-income areas.

In the constantly changing economy of cities, the growth of city housing is oftentimes neglected. In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification” Timothy Williams recounts how gentrification has evolved over the years. Mentioning how cities have changed in order to appease the younger professionals, Williams shows how the city itself is in jeopardy due to the tax increases. Slowly loosing their faithful residents as well as historic culture cities face a big deal. Williams gives quotes from faithful residents, “…long time homeowners are victims of the success story”, (Williams 346). In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification”, Williams uses his credible quotes and modern statistics to generate the reader’s emotions, with desire to change how city officials go about gentrification in culturally infused cities.

Webster’s Dictionary defines gentrification as “the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.” This sounds frightening to lower class citizens. However, Justin Davidson, author of “Is Gentrification All That Bad?” claims “Gentrification doesn’t need to be something that one group inflicts on another; often it’s a result of aspirations everybody shares.” Gentrification does not need to be the rich pushing the poor out. It can be the rich and the poor working together to make their city a wealthier and safer place to live. Gentrification improves communities by allowing more economic growth for all.

During my interview, Dr. Owens let me know that the U.S. Census Bureau stopped collecting data on income, and referred me to the American Community survey. Furthermore, she gave me feedback on my index for gentrification, and made the suggestion to exclude race and ethnicity since affluent racial minorities can contribute to gentrification. By specifying the factors investigating and listing my assumptions, I give the a general idea of why I think that these factors are important to the operationalization of gentrification, and support my choices with what has been done in past studies. In the discussion section, I reason why this study is significant and how it could lead to subsequent policy changes. By outlining ways in which different audiences can benefit from this study, I show that in addition to extending the existing research, my study has the potential to make societal impacts across various fields. If this proposal were to become a dissertation, this section would be more extensive and would draw upon the results found after collecting all the

The term Gentrification was coined by a British Sociologist Ruth Glass to describe the movement of middle class families in urban areas causing the property value to increase and displacing the older settlers. Over the past decades, gentrification has been refined depending on the neighborhood 's economic, social and political context. According to Davidson and Less’ definition, a gentrified area should include investment in capital, social upgrading, displacement of older settlers and change in the landscape (Davidson and Lees, 2005).Gentrification was perceived to be a residential process, however in the recent years, it has become a broader topic, involving the restructuring of inner cities, commercial development and improvement of facilities in the inner city neighborhoods. Many urban cities like Chicago, Michigan and Boston have experienced gentrification, however, it is affecting the Harlem residents more profoundly, uprooting the people who have been living there for decades, thus destroying the cultural identity of the historic neighborhood.

Viewing the complex matter of gentrification succinctly, it helps to uncover how multifaceted it is; in that gentrification involves the oppression, marginalization, displacement of vulnerable populations, particularly, the poor, and the black who are often already negatively impacted by the effects of classism, and racism. Gentrification threatens to erode the communities and livelihood maintained by these set of people because their displacement becomes a precondition for the total transformation of the area.

The specter of homelessness creates a psychological burden, and trauma created by physical displacement has influence over health. The benefits of gentrification are only distributed to a few residents, the demographics of which skew affluent white professionals, lower-income residents (often people of color) mostly remain cut off from the “good” of neighborhood revitalization. There is an undercurrent implication that a better neighborhood is one without them, exemplified by Section 8 voucher discrimination, like Lynda’s story. Landlords, private building owners in California currently have the right to deny voucher recipients housing on the basis that decreases the desirability of neighborhoods. While laws have been proposed to criminalize such discrimination, pro-business attitudes and advocacy have ultimately won out in the past, prioritizing the needs of few under private business over human interests.

Gentrification is a serious problem for many communities. Fortunately, it has not occurred in this area and correspondingly,

You would be surprised at the number of cities all over the world that experience gentrification, albeit gentrification follows the trend of taking place in urban areas. “Until about 2005, most planners and urban theorists regarded gentrification as a local issue. It was first described by Ruth Glass as a neighborhood-scale process of urban transformation. However, as whole cities and whole counties have become gentrified, the scale of the phenomenon now challenges the original concept (“Gentrification: now global! | UrbanPolicy.net”, 2018).” We can see examples of gentrification happening in places all over the globe, for example in places, Sydney, Vancouver, Amsterdam, and Johannesburg just to name a few. Yet as gentrification happens across the globe one thing remains the same there always seems to be an underlying political-economic-social cause of the change. One can begin to recognize this as a stark and undeniable truth when you begin to compare and contract cities miles apart or across the entire globe from each other. Places that you would never even think of being in the juxtaposition of one another. While there is no denying that gentrification has many fruitful gains the questions is who reaps the rewards is it just a select few or does the vast majority benefit? Another concern worth bringing up is the issue of sustainability. How does a

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.

Yet, gentrification is so difficult to track and explain. There is no definite reason for the causes and there are many potential studies that need to be conducted before any conclusions can be made. Gentrification is the result of a general trend of middle and high desiring to move from the suburbs and into the vibrant city. “It seeks to transform the historic neighbourhoods in an opportunity for the market, in the context of the growth of financial real estate and touristic sectors” (Díaz-Parra, I.,2015). So not only is gentrification inclined by the increase in demand of middle and high class people within cities, but also by the large profit margins that can be made by developers. Although, the hardships for deprived households is extremely harsh. Tenants within gentrifying areas suffer as their undervalued housing is loss for very low compensation, they are forced out of their communities, away from their jobs, friends, and resources that were once valuable to them. The issue lies in the difference between the rich and the poor. The gap in wealth makes this type of corruption so accessible and common. The poor, deprived households continue to lack power within society and simply have to watch as their life is changed when they are forced to

Everyday buildings and shops seem to be coming to a rust and becoming of age. There is a process in which it gives the neighborhood or streets a fresh new sense to the community. In doing this brings in a variety of different people from different customs and making the community more diverse. This process is called gentrification which is urban change, particularly, the transformation of a low income or economically depressed area of a city into a higher-income more economically prosperous. Gentrification is not tied to race and ethnicity but social class. Although it seems like all negatives to the community because they have lost their childhood store or restaurant, there are positives to gentrification. Gentrification is beneficial to our community because of the displacement of not only the buildings but of the people, urban renewal, and property value.

The root meaning behind the word gentrification comes from the Old French word “genterise” meaning “people of gentle birth”. However, in the modern day, gentrification can be defined in multiple ways such as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste” or “the process of wealthier residents moving to an area, and the changes that occur due to the influx of wealth”. In simple terms, the concept behind gentrification refer to the change which a community goes from low value to high value, however the effects of gentrification are far more complex. The positive impacts of gentrification includes higher wages due to the boost of economy in the given area, more tax revenues, and lower crime rates. The other end of the impacts of gentrification spectrum include the displacement of long term residents and businesses due to higher rents, property values, mortgages, and property taxes, as well as shifting of the community’s culture and characteristics. Gentrification has been a controversial topic and it has a significant impact on the social, economic and demographic changes in the communities specifically in the modern day today. This raises the question of, is gentrification good or a bad?

Recently Denver Colorado has gone through a dramatic increase of new residents, causing many communities to be hurt by gentrification. The definition of Gentrification according to dictionary.com means, “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.” This definition alone proves that gentrification can have a negative impact. Although many people will overlook the negative impact because the positive can be a much more luxurious way of living. Yes, there are good things that come out of gentrification such as an increase in school quality or drops in crime are usually reflected in home prices. At the end of the day the negative outcomes outweigh the positive such as displaced youth, historical landmarks demolished, high level of vacancy rate in newly built apartments. Allowing gentrification to continue at this speed may result in the lower middle class to disappear. Which is why we must work together to decrease gentrification so that citizens have a chance at the best life possible.