Yule Heibel's Library tagged gentrification →  View Popular, Search in Google

Indeed: those attractive downtown neighborhoods aren't very affordable anymore.
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These neighborhoods are the economic drivers of their cities, often accounting for a disproportionate share of public revenue relative to their land mass. But today, only the wealthiest among us can afford to live in them. That will remain the case until we create many more Dupont Circles – enough to finally bring the supply of walkable urban neighborhoods in line with the demand of all the people who want to live in them.

These numbers all speak to a fundamental change in demand in our cities.

“It wasn’t that many years ago that walkable urban places had a price penalty associated with them, not a price premium,” Leinberger says. “That’s the structural shift. And when you have a structural shift, it’s important to change your public policy to take it into consideration.”

Those “walkable urban places” he’s talking about did not necessarily have people walking around in them 20 years ago (“Maybe they were running around because they were fearful of being mugged,” Leinberger says). These were the inner-city neighborhoods that middle-class city-dwellers abandoned decades ago. Over time, they deteriorated. They became the cheap places to live. And now that trend is reversing.
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atlantic_cities urbanism gentrification affordability

This quote/observation is just crazy. My observations of Portland drivers are that they are overwhelmingly deferential to bicyclists, and to call Williams "too dangerous" for cyclists strikes me as just plain weird. (Full disclosure: I'm currently living in an apartment that overlooks this bike corridor.) It makes me wonder what people actually want. I've noticed that many people here (including younger ones) really fear density (Portland overall is very low density, population-wise), and resist changes that would densify the city. They like the suburban-y feel of these eastside neighborhoods, but want all the goodies that gentrification also would bring. Meanwhile, the racial question in Portland is IMNSHO huge. Every time I'm out and just chat casually with strangers who happen to be African-American, I get the impression they think it's weird that a white person (female) is talking to them. Why would that be the case, if not for the fact that is *is* unusual? Neighborhood sports games (at Unthank Park, of all places) are observably segregated, as I've seen: white adults playing some version of softball, while black kids hang out dribbling a basketball in a separate play lot a few yards away. So much bs. For example, this:
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"I'm not selling my property, so I don't give a shit," says Goldsmith. But while the city help for new businesses has been great, in the hubbub of bikes, cars, and buses, Goldsmith no longer feels safe biking down its main business street. "I love living here, I love being here... but I don't bike with my kids on Williams anymore—it's too dangerous."
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portland race bicycles cities density gentrification

Completely agree with Benjamin Hemric's critical comment (below), about Benjamin Schwarz's article (which in turn is a review of books by Sharon Zukin and Michael Sorkin and their collective take on Jane Jacobs.
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While I agree that there is much to criticize in Michael Sorkin's and Sharon Zukin's lamentations about gentrification, it's very disheartening to see that in his article, writer Benjamin Schwarz seems to accept the very same myths about Jane Jacobs that Sorkin and Zukin appear to subscribe to. I think that if one looks at what Jane Jacobs ACTUALLY WROTE (rather than accepting at face value what people "say" she wrote) one will quickly see the differences between Jacobs and Sorkin and Zukin -- and also see why Sorkin's and Zukin's critiques are so misguided.

It seems to me that the following, in order of appearance in the article, are the pernicious myths that Mr. Schwarz has, sadly, incorporated into his article:

1) Myth incorporating statement #1: "She [Jacobs] largely formed her conclusions in "Death and Life . ." . . by closely reading the neighborhood life around her house on Hudson Street . . . "

The name of Jacobs' first and most famous book is "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," NOT, "The Death and Life of Greater Greenwich Village." In it, Jacobs writes about many sections of New York City (e.g., East Harlem, W57th St., Rockefeller Center, Yorkville, etc.), AND about parts of a lot of other American cities too (e.g., the North End of Boston; Rittenhouse Square, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the four Center City parks of Philadelphia; Back of the Yards, Chicago, etc.).

For a number of years prior to writing "Death and Life . . . ," Jacobs was a writer for a prestigious, glossy, national publication, "Architectural Forum," and she visited, researched (e.g., explored and interviewed government officials, etc.), and wrote about cities all over the country. Furthermore she herself credited experiences in Philadelphia and, especially East Harlem, with really opening her eyes to the

atlantic_monthly benjamin_schwarz benjamin_hemric cities nyc urbanism jjacobs gentrification

Sharon Zukin takes on gentrification (in Harlem especially), while Harlem-ites dismiss her critique. "Gentrification" v. "authenticity" - which one is better?

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It should also be said that these talented, innovative African-Americans are forging a new entrepreneurial path that was too often closed to their ancestors. Jai Jai Greenfield, co-owner of Harlem Vintage, a wine store that opened on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in 2004, designed it as an homage to her grandparents, longtime Harlem residents whose elegant photographs from the 1930s were featured in the store's initial promotional literature. She says that Ms. Zukin is missing the point. "We brought to Harlem something that had never existed here—a store that is for and about the wine. [Ms. Zukin] seems to think that to be legitimately ghetto our store should look a certain way—bullet-proofed windows and grates. To be authentic, in her view, I would need to go with a couple of concepts—fried chicken or maybe a nail salon."
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authenticity gentrification sharon_zukin harlem nyc socialcritique

Interesting article (which incidentally puts Vancouver front & centre), blogged by Richard Florida at Creative Class: the subtitle is "the demographic inversion of the American city." It's about how the "inner city" and its "inner city suburbs" are now desirable (and expensive) places to live, creating a 24/7 downtown (desired & theorized early on by Jane Jacobs, eg.), while the less affluent (ok, the poor!) are forced to live on the outskirts (suburbs). This used to be called "gentrification," but Ehrenhalt points out that it's a much more complex process than just that.

Haven't read all the comments to this article, but it starts with some excellent ones -- intelligent observations by readers.

cities downtown creative_cities suburbs gentrification trends urbanization urban_renewal demographics