Housing
How Gentrifiers Change the Definition of a Neighborhood
New research out of Philadelphia finds race to be the biggest predictor of how residents defined their changing communities.
A year ago, Spike Lee told a New York audience exactly how he felt about gentrification: “[W]hy does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better?” he roared.
If gentrification remains one of the most hotly debated and most poorly understood urban issues, Lee’s rant makes one thing patently clear: Black and white residents who live in rapidly changing neighborhoods perceive them (and talk about them) very differently.