TRICKLE DOWN GENTRIFICATION?
It happens everywhere – places that once served lower income
minorities are slowly infiltrated by the bohemians, hipsters, and yuppies who
take over and force the original tenants out through a rise in property value. This
act – aka “Gentrification” - is seen as a two-sided coin. The lower income families
are extremely upset when they see their community change. But the new middle to
high income families find excitement in the rugged areas and cannot understand
why people refuse to sell their homes for an astronomical price. Gentrification
brings many great things to the lower income neighborhoods; higher demand for
better schools, local parks and greenspaces, new thriving businesses, and new
apartment buildings. The thought is that everyone can enjoy the new amenities
equally once the neighborhood transformation is complete. However, the original
property value increase drives out many of the existing families who would benefit
the most from these changes.
If you see this process on a smaller scale, this one way process
of poor to rich seems insulting to the lower income families.
But if you see
this process over time, gentrification is just one part of the cycle:
1 - Unpopular areas are placed aside for social housing
2 - The city creates infrastructure to transport the lower income families
3 – The bohemian discovers the benefits of the area, starting gentrification
4 – The area remains popular, driving social housing to a new unpopular area
5 – The popular area slowly loses its luster and becomes unpopular once more.
Repeat.
I believe that gentrification will happen no matter what –
and it shouldn’t be thought of as a terrible thing! The negativity that is
viewed in gentrification should be focused upon our legal system instead. We
should do everything in our power to assure these cycles can be completed
without causing mass poverty and homelessness, but understand that cities
cannot advance without a change in property values.
See these nifty maps
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