Pros And Cons Of Gentrification Essay
GENTRIFICATION IN “BRICK CITY”
***N E W A R K***
Originally, the term gentrification was invented to describe the residential movement of middle-class people into the low-income areas of London. (Zukin, 131). I understand gentrification to be a plan that focuses on developing urban renewal plans and projects to help uplift and restore low-income urban areas. This is all done in hopes to attract wealthier residents in order to boost the economy of the neighborhood or city. It has been debated that gentrification can be linked to reductions in crime rates, increased property values, and renewed community activism. My hometown of Newark, NJ is currently undergoing such a process. Newark legislators and businessmen have come to call this development the “Newark …show more content…
There has been past evidence that shows how this process can force lower-income residents who are no longer able to afford rent or pay property taxes in their neighborhoods to move out. Gentrification is a word that is often times misunderstood and has become synonymous almost with displacement. Because many of these urban areas many are initially inhabited by minority populations and are stereotyped as bad neighborhoods with run down houses and unemployed people, many would argue that the government’s secret tool of urban renewal has been to get the old residents out and bring some new residents in. in most cases white, rich people then in and improve the aesthetic conditions of the neighborhood and then the original residents, who eventually are unable to keep up with tax costs and recognize that culture of their old neighborhood is lost, then move elsewhere. Surprisingly, I just didn’t find this to be the case exactly in Newark, NJ. There has been some displacement of lower income families out of the city, but the overwhelming impact seems to be a positive one.
***N E W A R K***
Originally, the term gentrification was invented to describe the residential movement of middle-class people into the low-income areas of London. (Zukin, 131). I understand gentrification to be a plan that focuses on developing urban renewal plans and projects to help uplift and restore low-income urban areas. This is all done in hopes to attract wealthier residents in order to boost the economy of the neighborhood or city. It has been debated that gentrification can be linked to reductions in crime rates, increased property values, and renewed community activism. My hometown of Newark, NJ is currently undergoing such a process. Newark legislators and businessmen have come to call this development the “Newark …show more content…
There has been past evidence that shows how this process can force lower-income residents who are no longer able to afford rent or pay property taxes in their neighborhoods to move out. Gentrification is a word that is often times misunderstood and has become synonymous almost with displacement. Because many of these urban areas many are initially inhabited by minority populations and are stereotyped as bad neighborhoods with run down houses and unemployed people, many would argue that the government’s secret tool of urban renewal has been to get the old residents out and bring some new residents in. in most cases white, rich people then in and improve the aesthetic conditions of the neighborhood and then the original residents, who eventually are unable to keep up with tax costs and recognize that culture of their old neighborhood is lost, then move elsewhere. Surprisingly, I just didn’t find this to be the case exactly in Newark, NJ. There has been some displacement of lower income families out of the city, but the overwhelming impact seems to be a positive one.