Gentrification and Urban Renewal

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses gentrification and urban renewal. It looks at the reasons for gentrification of a region and its advantages. The paper then demonstrates that while gentrification of an area is done to reconstruct the image of a region as acceptable to the public at large, it does so at the expense of those persons whom defined the original character of the region.

From the Paper:

"Both of these scenarios reflect an absolute lack of consideration for the persons and the socio-cultural setting involved. The decision to enter into an area and apply gentrification does so at the expense of a population that is considered to have less inherent value than members of the mainstream population. Moreover, it is difficult to present arguments in the favor of the displaced communities that reach the mainstream population and policy members without implying that the conditions within these communities are beneficial. After all, no one could sensibly argue that keeping children in impoverished conditions with high crime rates and allowing drug use and the overt sale of sexuality are beneficial outcomes. Doing so, however, is a simplified argument that does not get at the heart of the issues involved: the decision to gentrify an area is the decision to destroy a unique culture, but it is instead framed as the appropriate decision to bring new vitality back into the community. It is rarely taken into consideration that the community that exists will be gone and that its participants will be forced to relocate, or that the relocation phase can make their lives worse than before."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Delaney, S. R. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. New York University Press, New York. 2001.
• Sites, William. Remaking New York: Primitive Globalization and the Politics of Urban Community. University of Minnesota Press, St. Paul (MN). 2003.

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