Gentrification, Segregation, and Discrimination in the American Urban System

Abstract

As the Nation celebrated a new era, its home ownership rate had moved to an historic high ... . Public housingöespecially the isolated, distressed clusters of high-rises scarring cities from Newark to Chicago to St. Louis to Oaklandöhad experienced a rebirth ... . And in cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., public housing tenants now lived side-by-side with neighbors who, a few years earlier, might not have considered visiting the area, much less settling down in it.'' HUD (2000, page 50)`T he spotlight of the Olympics provided the catalyst to`remove the problem' of public housing from the doorstep of the corporate and academic institutions that could not abide or accommodate the proximity of poor people ... a national landmark was sacrificed to the`downtown business agenda' and partially funded by unsuspecting U.S. taxpayers who financed a public relations program instead of providing necessary support for public welfare.'' Keating and Flores (2000, pages 305^306)`T he revanchist city is a city of occasionally vicious revenge wrought against many of the city's most dependentöunemployed and homeless people, racial and ethnic minorities, women and immigrants, gays and lesbians, the working class. It has everything to do with a defence and reconstruction of the lines of identity privilege. '' Smith (1997, page 129) These three quotes, torn out of the context of wildly divergent debates and discourses, offer a glimpse of the complex reconstruction of American urbanism in the 1990s. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, 2000), in a lavish, glossy compendium of its accomplishments targeted at the new presidential administration, celebrates the transformation of contemporary US urban policy ö a`vision for change' emphasizing homeownership, flexible devolution, and the creative use of market forces to rebuild low-income inner-city neighborhoods

The Association of Minority Self-Rated Health with Black versus White Gentrification

“…The individual health effects of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly racially segregated communities, 21 have been found to be sweeping due to limited resources like healthy food and quality health care. [22][23][24] These residents were also more likely to be impacted by environmental effects stemming from neighborhood disadvantage that Bget under the skin.^2 5 A commonly identified form of disadvantage is disorder, observable signs of weakened social control such as vandalism, graffiti, and other evidence of incivility. 26,27 Those residing in neighborhoods with high levels of disorder were more likely to report lower SRH, reflected in greater rates of psychological stress and chronic health problems.…”

“…10 What is more, concerns have been raised that gentrification leads to residential displacement of minorities from these communities. 3,5,6 Heightened stress due to the fear of being Bpushed out^has been found to have adverse effects such as increased mortality 11 or preterm births 12 in gentrifying places for incumbent residents. However, there is a lack of conclusive proof of residential displacement from gentrification in existing research.…”

Class Transformation and Work-Life Balance in Urban Britain: The Case of Manchester

“…For although there might have been a period at the end of the twentieth century when the academic production of work on gentrification slowed (Lees 2000), this moment appears to have passed. A host of journal special editions (Urban Studies 2003;Environment andPlanning 2004, 2007), together with a rash of books and a continuing flow of papers on its different empirical, methodological and theoretical aspects bare testament to the continuing vibrancy of this work (Atkinson and Bridge 2005;Bridge 2003;Butler 2003;Dutton 2003;Hackworth 2007;Lees et al 2007;Slater 2004;Slater et al 2004;Wyly and Hammel 2004). According to Slater et al (2004), much of this work has focused on two themes: the first has been that concerned with the practices of those portions of the middle class who have relocated: those who gentrify an area through their actions and exercising their preferences.…”

Neighbourhood change among creative–cultural districts in mid-sized US metropolitan areas, 2000–10

“…Yet, as the old industrial economy gives way to the new knowledge economy, and the entrepreneurial city evolves in accordance with creative class aspirations for diversity, community and culture, cities and neighbourhoods are increasingly confronted with the exclusionary and homogenizing effects of gentrification (Kohn, 2013;Wyly & Hammel, 2004;Zukin, 2010). Zukin (2008Zukin ( , 2010 has been particularly critical of what Peck (2005) has described as 'creative gentrification' or 'hipsterization'.…”