Understanding Gentrification

The cycle of growth and decay is inevitable with any city. Most cities grow outward through suburban growth, pushing their periphery further from the downtown core. Suburban growth patterns have intensified since the Second World War, especially in North American cities and have continued for over three decades. Unfortunately, outward suburban development has left downtown neighbourhoods to crumble and decay, leaving mainly lower income residents to inhabit them. The past several decades has seen a reverse of these trends through a process known as “gentrification.”


The gentrification process has spatially reconstructed the inner city as well as the urban landscape. Gentrification can be quite controversial as a revitalization process. Although it may help reverse the cycle of decay within inner city neighbourhoods, it tends to be more beneficial for the gentrifier than the neighbourhoods original residents, making the negative effects outweigh the positive aspects of the process. The next few paragraphs will discuss the gentrification process in more detail.


Although noticeable, the extent of the effects and impacts of gentrification are hard to quantify due to the high mobility of many inner city neighbourhoods lower income residents (Nelson, 1988, p.18). It is clear that the negative effects of gentrification become destructive to the neighbourhoods underprivileged and lower income incumbent residents. Perhaps the most destructive effect of gentrification is the displacement of many of the current neighbourhood residents. Tom Wetzel states that displacement is a change in the class composition of a neighbourhood over time. The poor are the largest proportion of those displaced, usually consisting of minorities, the elderly, and female headed households with children (Gale, 1979).


The displacement of these people occurs for a variety of reasons. Improvements in the neighbourhood can lead to higher rents and property taxes causing evictions and a reduction in the supply of affordable housing for low-income households. Even incumbent owners are involuntarily displaced as property values and taxes become too high for them to afford. Displacement can also occur due to significant decreases in density within the area. This involves the conversion of multiple unit dwellings back into single dwelling units through a “deconversion” process (Ley, 1985, p.35). There are therefore more people leaving then coming into the neighborhood. Once rents and housing prices are not affordable to people with lower incomes, people with lower incomes cannot move into the neighbourhood, and people in the neighbourhood who need to move for some reason will have a harder time staying.


Several other problems arise when displaced residents area forced to relocate. In two different studies of displacement due to renovations in Montreal, David Ley (1985) cites that the people evicted were poorer and older than the local population and their rents increased by 20 percent and 40 percent respectively (p.35). Displacement unintentionally moves people further from key services they may depend on. Many lower income peoples also rely on public transit making their new displaced locations further and more unsuitable for their lifestyles (Gale, 1979).


Many different attempts to control gentrification have been made. Measures such as inclusionary zoning and rent controls help yet are not always effective. One measure that has shown promise in controlling gentrification is the community land trust (CLT). According to Tom Wetzel’s webpage on Gentrification, CLT’s essentially change the ownership structure of the land and buildings where the residents own the buildings and the community owns the land. This model places restrictions on price and rental of the dwelling ensuring affordability throughout the community. Several successful CLT’s in Europe are mentioned at the Community Land Trust Website. These include: Stonesfield Community Trust in Oxford, and Ilse of Ghiga Heritage Trust in the Scotish Hebrides. The Institute for Community Economics also has a list of CLT’s from all over the world. Mentioned and on their list is a CLT in the West Broadway neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Unfortunately this CLT was not successful and according to the West Broadway Housing Plan 2008 – 2012, it was unable to address a variety of affordability and maintenance issues and was dissolved in 2006.


Although gentrification has many negative effects, positive aspects of the process can be seen through physical improvements that revitalize the neighbourhood reversing the cycle of decay. These improvements usually consist of extensive interior and exterior renovations that are highly fashionable, improving the aesthetic appeal of the urban landscape as well as the quality of the inner city housing stock. Positive economic effects are also visible as the new flow of money within the neighbourhood is often reciprocated by enhancements in services and amenities. City tax bases also benefit greatly from the positive economic effects.

Unfortunately, those at the lower end of the economic spectrum have less choice than those with the financial ability to live where they want. Gentrification of inner city neighbourhoods is a tough issue that must be addressed to ensure that those needing affordable housing have access to it. Although significant benefits are visible to the aesthetics and quality of the housing stock within downtown areas, gentrification has more benefits for the gentrifier than the neighbourhood’s previous residents. As such, gentrification is not a holistic approach for addressing decay and revitalization within inner city neighbourhoods. The disadvantages of this process outweigh the advantages.

By Andrei Friesen


Sources:

Gale, Dennis. “Middle Class Resettlement in Older Urban Neighbourhoods.” Journal of American Planning Association, 45 (1979): 293-304

Ley, David. “Gentrification in Canadian Inner Cities.” Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1985, p. 35

Nelson, Kathryn. “Gentrification and Distressed Cities.” Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988, p.18

Wetzel, Tom. “What is Gentrification?” 2004, http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/gentry.htm
Accessed January 19, 2008