The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

Gentrification Through a Sociological Lens Gentrification has reshaped a growing number of urban communities throughout the United States. In 1964, Ruth Glass coined the word “gentrification” to describe the transformations of many London neighborhoods. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Gentrification defines as, “the rehabilitation and settlement of decaying urban areas by middle- and high-income people”. Cities are finding themselves having to adapt to a more middle-class taste, where the implications of doing so can be tricky. As outspoken director Spike Lee, whose movies tackled subjects like race relations and poverty, said himself, “Why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers...for the facilities to get better?”

Community morale can be larger indicator of an issue. The overall distaste towards unwanted changes from outsiders is also a big aspect of displacement as Antwan Jones, professor and published sociologist at George Washington University, describes to the Baltimore Sun, “The differences between old and new residents in gentrifying neighborhoods results in a change in the amenities in those areas. Restaurants, leisure activities and shopping emerge for the incoming (and future) high earners in the neighborhood, pushing existing amenities out” (Jones 4). The neighborhood feels different than it did before based on these renovations, and that feeling itself may lead problems. Derek S. Hyra, the director of American University’s School of Public Affairs Metropolitan Policy Center, detailed that newer white residents and long-term black residents barely interacted in Washington's Shaw neighborhood (qtd. In “Point: Neighborhood”). His research described how a lack of connection between groups, stemming from mistrust, creates the chasm of an us vs. them mentality. Consider for example Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, California. Chicano Park has increasingly been known as a battleground for cultural