How Urban Core Amenities Drive Gentrification and Increase Inequality

The gentrification of cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. has soared in recent years, as the affluent and educated have poured back into them. These superstar cities and tech hubs are epicenters of the “new urban crisis” with high and worsening levels of income inequality, economic segregation, and increasingly unaffordable housing, all of which have disproportionate negative effects on the less advantaged.

But what is actually behind these shifts? One popular explanation is that it is tied to the concentration of high-paying professional jobs in the urban center. Knowledge workers need to be close to these jobs and networks to advance their careers. Others suggest it is driven by the desire of these groups to avoid lengthy car commutes and keep more time for working, leisure, or family. But a growing body of research by leading urban economists provides evidence that behind both the wealthy’s back-to-the-city movement and the spatial inequality it brings are the cluster of high-end amenities—like restaurants, theaters, concert halls, and other institutions that are uniquely available at the urban core of superstar cities.