KQED attempted to put the effect gentrification has had on the people of Oakland into perspective. As a major metropolitan city, Oakland has a constant influx of people moving in and moving out every single year. In just the “five-year span between 2010 and 2014, 104,544 people left Oakland… so, we'll speculate that during the five-year span, at least 14,008 left Oakland for economic reasons”(How Many Are Being Displaced by gentrification in Oakland?). This is a staggering number of people who have had to leave their home city due to economic reasons. Whats even scarier is that this number only represent those that were able to report their financial situation. There maybe an even greater group of people that went unrecognized by the survey. …show more content…
Though it doesn’t specifically speak about Oakland, many of the findings are noticeable in Oakland. This quote highlights the positive aspects of gentrification and how it is improving the lives of people who could not access these things in the past. Oakland’s crime rates have dropped significantly so far in the 21st century and are estimated to go down even more. No longer is Oakland associated with violence and death to those on the outside. We have also seen many corporations moving into Oakland bringing technology jobs. So far in the 21st century gentrification has brought many lucrative opportunities to those who can take them. New buildings are going up and the city is growing and expanding. The article continues by saying “while gentrification can cause social discord, it doesn’t produce measurably more departures from neighborhood” (In Defense of Gentrification). This goes against the notion that gentrification is the main reason people are moving out of urban areas. Statistically, in many places there is no evidence that a gentrifying area will have greater departures than a non gentrifying one. While this source brings up a good point, it fails to take into consideration that the reason the levels of people moving out of these areas are similar is that the middle class is shrinking and can no longer afford non gentrifying areas. People are still moving out of the gentrified areas for economic reasons and it is often unclear what specifically their reasons are. You can’t say the cause isn’t gentrification if the situation is as ambiguous as it often
For example, many cities that are rich in culture, diversity, and vitality are beacons for white people interested in the “upcoming scene.” This brings more and more whites who displace and marginalize the original residents through increasing prices. Cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco all have neighborhoods that originally had mostly poor, uneducated African Americans, and now are swelling with young, educated whites that have greatly increased the price of living. In Boston, Charlestown, Jamaica Plains, and Beacon Hill have all experienced intense characteristics of gentrification from the 1970s up until the present, showcasing an increase in the population with at least a bachelor’s degree, as well as a large increase in new and renovated buildings. In New York, the most famous example of gentrification is in Harlem, has undergone a process of gentrification after becoming known as the national, and even international symbol for black culture with a vibrancy that is not seen in the suburbs. Finally, in San Francisco, in the bay area, there has been a massive influx of affluent companies that have completely devastated the middle class due to a high rise in wealthy, educated, employees. These employees have taken residence up in the bay area, causing the entirety of the already previously gentrified neighborhood to skyrocket to unobtainable prices, even for the
Gentrification has greatly changed the face of Oakland so far in the 21st century. New shops and people are moving in at record numbers, greatly increasing the median income of the city; however, many long-term residents are being evicted due to increasing property values and rent prices. Many are also outraged at the loss of Oakland’s strong cultural roots, but at the same time, in low income areas, crime rates have greatly reduced and academic performance has increased. This begs the question: In what ways has gentrification positively and negatively affected Oakland so far in the 21st century?
The gentrification and displacement debate is more controversial than ever in Oakland, California. You can see it everywhere from the outskirts of West Oakland to Lake Merritt, and all throughout East Oakland. There is no denying its strong prevalence throughout the city and the reverberation of both negative and positive effects it brings with it. Oakland was once notorious for violence and its high crime rates and now it has become an up-and-coming hot spot for newly affluent and mostly white residents while pushing out low-income African American and Latino residents.
A study by The Urban Institute describes gentrification as “a process whereby higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, escalating the area’s property values to the point that displacement occurs.” Gentrification generally takes place in deteriorating urban or rural areas. The purpose of gentrification is to take struggling neighborhoods and stabilize them by increasing property value. Naturally the system isn’t perfect, as it has the side effect of displacement, which can cause some people to have to move to a different location, but overall gentrification is much more beneficial than destructive on a large scale. All neighborhoods have to be improved eventually. Gentrification is simply the most effective way of doing it. Although there are some negatives associated with Gentrification, in the long run it succeeds in creating a better place for people to live, and the pros far outweigh the cons.
The young professionals or the college graduates are now back and cant afford to pay rent. Why because rent is increasing and the prices of co-ops and the brownstones continue to go up. Gentrification is now the new black as people and it’s now seen in almost every neighborhood in New York City. The bodegas and corner stores are now chic restaurants, bookstores, and gourmet shops are now all over town and booming. If more individuals restore several components within an area, then the process of gentrification will become more mutual in nature. However, the same process also banished many people from the vigorous working class communities. Gentrification was met with violent conflict from New York residents. Some were not happy with the new changes and wanted their old neighborhoods. But the young professionals were happy that their were changes in their neighborhood. There was a potential to raise a family of their own.
There has been a recent phenomenon throughout the United States of gentrification. As older parts of neighborhoods are occupied by new tenants with money, the neighborhood changes and loses its old character. Those who might have lived in those neighborhoods their entire lives are pushed out as rents begin to skyrocket and the surroundings begin to change. This has happened in many neighborhoods. One of the most well known is San Francisco, where technology companies have brought in new software engineers that have caused local rents to skyrocket and people to move out of the area. However, just as importantly has been the influx of new money to Brooklyn, where local neighborhood changes have forced people from their homes, traditional music to be replaced, and old businesses to go bankrupt.
Gentrification brings positive long term effects to communities and cities nationwide. Direct results of gentrification for both the residents and the city are the economical growth, local job opportunities created and a higher tax base available. (Stacey Sutton, Urbanly planning Scholar, defined gentrification as): Gentrification is the process of higher status people renovating lower class urban neighborhoods to satisfy middle-higher class standards (Sutton, 2015). In the process of gentrification throughout the United States, it is positively impacting the economy in more ways than one. One benefit of gentrification is the economical growth residents benefit from.
In other words, a broad demographic of people in the neighborhood benefited financially. According to the study's findings, only one group — black residents who never finished high school — saw their income grow at a slower rate than predicted. But the study also suggests that these residents weren't moving out of their neighborhoods at a disproportionately higher rate than from similar neighborhoods that didn't gentrify (Kiviat, paragraph 4).” Also, more studies show that gentrification didn’t necessarily push out residents but became a place that middle class minorities moved into; “The addition of white college graduates, especially those under 40 without children, was a hallmark of gentrifying neighborhoods — that much fit the conventional wisdom — but so was the influx of college-educated blacks and Hispanics, who moved to gentrifying neighborhoods more often than they to did similar, more static areas. Two other groups tended to move more often into upwardly mobile neighborhoods as well: 40-to-60-year-old Hispanics without a high-school degree, and similarly uneducated Hispanics aged 20 to 40 with children...
Moreover, according to census tracking gentrified areas are in located in populations that have higher educated individuals. As well as the factor of money and the costs of homes, detailing that those living in the area now are well paid. Gentrification has demonstrated a gap in between the nation and its people. It has allowed the factor of money to take over, and leave the people who have originated in the area to be left with nothing. The census official’s state that locals, []. “Washington, D.C., Gentrification Maps and Data.” Governing Magazine: State and Local Government News for America's Leaders, 2018, www.governing.com/gov-data/washington-dc-gentrification-maps-demographic-data.html. Estimates are shown for owner-occupied housing units
Is gentrification causing segregation in urban cities? The majority of modern day cities are in a state of steady gentrification. Many people believe that gentrification is making the city more modern, safe, and appealing to other people. However, these people in their naivety fail to comprehend the hidden consequences and impact of gentrification on various ethnic groups and low-income families. Gentrification is a master of disguise that hides itself with assumed correlations to everyday people. One such assumption is that gentrification will increase the socioeconomic diversity of a neighborhood.
Gentrification has been discussed many times by various authors in many forms, many take its side and many disagree with it, but there’s never an unanimous vote on it being good or bad, it’s heavily based on perspective and owns experience. Many issues are brought up in these discussions, from displacement, class, financial repercussions, etc. Gentrification is definitely not a new phenomenon and it has been even happening since humans started settling in cities. Usually when a commoner suddenly came into more amount of wealth than usual and improved upon his surroundings that resulted in higher classes of people to get attracted to that area sometimes driving or even forcing the lower class out, this phenomena can’t really be stopped because
When cities begin their journey of being gentrified, many locals become displaced. Displacement is when locals are uprooted from their homes, due to outside factors, and forced to move elsewhere. According to the Urban Displacement Project conducted by U.C. Berkeley, “Gentrification results from both flows of capital and people. The extent to which gentrification is linked to racial transition differs across neighborhood contexts... Displacement takes many different forms—direct and indirect, physical or economic, and exclusionary—and may result from either investment or disinvestment” (U.C. Berkeley). Many people are coming into San Francisco’s Bay Area because of how diverse each element is. However, according to Census numbers, between 1990 and 2010, 35.7% of San Francisco’s black population dwindled (Bliss). 35.7% of the black community within San Francisco suffered from displacement. An additional 53% of low-income households in the Bay Area are at risk for displacement and gentrification (U.C. Berkeley). This has definitely left a dent within the diversity reputation held up by the Bay Area. When such a strong large part of people leave, The City will experience a shift in culture and community. Whether, it is the real estate, the food, the different cultures, the Bay Area has always been known for being different. Perhaps, this is why so many outsiders are coming in and buying up every piece of land they can. Whether their intentions were to purchase land and
First, let's start with what gentrification is. Google defines it as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste”, but the image Gentrification usually evokes when brought into discussion is hipsters moving into a run-down but charming neighborhood and transforming it into something completely different. What is a hipster? Some may call them the fairy godmothers of the once neglected area, and others may refer to them as the monsters that are displacing families to make an artisan beard oil shop, but we’ll touch on that later.
Corporations are taking over the urban landscape. In previous years, many upper and middle class families fled to the suburbs to escape the everyday hustle of city life. However, in recent years, city living has become glamorized and thus the movement back into the city has increased. Once blighted inner-city neighborhoods are being taken over and revitalized by corporate leaders in hopes to redesign and yuppify these areas. As more money is put into the area, the higher the market value goes up and as a result, many local residents can no longer afford to live there. While these residents are pushed out, a more ‘desirable’ group of residents move in and thus, take over. This process, known as gentrification, is occurring in many cities all across the nation. In the past, displaced residents could possibly move to another area that was not undergoing this process. However, as we are seeing in Chicago, it is nearing impossibility to move to an area within the city that will not
Nonetheless, technology advances in gentrification can also have a negative side effect on the population. Gentrification brought a negative impact upon San Francisco in the past years. The side effects lead countless of citizens to