Changes to cities, communities, and neighborhoods are inevitable as they have been developing and changing since the dawn of civilization. In most cases, city change and gentrification occur when more affluent individuals move to historically less affluent neighborhoods, and people hold different views about it. Using the articles “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found” by Whitehead and “Designing a More Inclusive City” by Arieff, this paper explores how gentrification and changes to a city end up excluding some individuals, especially those with low income. It argues that this ambiguous process can be regarded as a social problem from the point of view of social justice.
Research analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau and demographic data on gentrification activities reveals that activists in many communities have long reported how gentrification pushes people out of their neighborhoods. In her article, Arieff states that “Or benches are removed, sprinklers installed and sit-lie laws passed to keep certain people away while policies that would help educate, house or care for those people are inadequate and underfunded” (20). This reveals that the policies passed do not aim to help people that may be affected by gentrification but rather to keep away these individuals by passing laws such as the anti-homelessness strategy that removes seats in cities to exclude people from certain places. In his narrative of gentrification in New York City, Whitehead also states that “go back to your old haunts in your old neighborhoods and what do you find: they remain and have disappeared” (23). This shows the rapid change that happens and how quickly gentrification replaces the old memories and causes damage to the city. Gentrification usually offers a new narrative for urban development. Despite this, the inner city’s repopulation brings a potential threat for long-term residents who may face the danger of relocation. Thus the story of decline continues in a different form.
The forms of displacement that individuals face may be direct or indirect. For instance, an increase in rent or evictions as landlords focus on raising their houses’ values. Massively increasing or evicting someone is a direct form of displacement since individuals are prevented from accessing local housing due to the high pricing. This is one of the main levers of gentrification since, for example, in the United States, these tariffs are not fixed and vary from region to region. The action of several pricing factors at once leads to the fact that the rent cost rises sharply. Of course, the more residents pay for the house’s maintenance and the surrounding area, the better they are served accordingly. Gradually, the area becomes well-groomed but too expensive for the population, who lived here even before gentrification. This permanent economic pressure is causing old-timers to move farther, where rent is cheaper. This frees up space for new, richer settlers, and the area becomes gentrified and “prosperous.”
Gentrification also alters the kind of services individuals receive and effectively serves their needs (Arieff, 135). This can create polarization in a community as the services needed are inaccessible. Moreover, it weakens community bonds among working-class areas, therefore, pushing people to move to other places. Others may also develop resentment as their neighborhood, which helped them maintain their identity and provided social networks, is reshaped to meet newcomers’ needs. This marginalization and alienation from the community is another type of displacement pressure that encourages long-term residents to leave. The resentment felt by long-term residents is clearly expressed in Whitehead’s article as he reminisces about the old New York City and its transformation. He states that “thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one of them seeing the same thing” (23). This shows that all the spaces that connected them have been destroyed, and they no longer feel at home. Arieff argues that the cause of such displacement and resentment is certainly not the result of bad choices on the part of poorer residents, but is the direct result of earlier planning decisions” (136). In fact, gentrification occurs deliberately; that is, it is planned according to specific criteria, including increasing housing prices in certain areas. From a historical perspective, gentrification is nothing more than a very slow takeover of foreign territory.
Changes and gentrification in cities and neighborhoods also affect shared values and meaning, defining a place to its inhabitants. This creates a new pattern of rising inequality and competition for resources. Rising disparities in income between the top and bottom of the income scale help diversify previously homogeneous urban areas. As a result, society’s conventional notion as a bounded locality inhabited by a single social group is shattered. The distribution of resources may be regulated or at least disputed by erecting boundaries across a population, whether based on race, class, or other social differentiation types. Arieff notes that “policy pursued by the federal government after World War II was designed to subsidize the development of suburbs on a condition that the homes be sold only to white families and that deeds prohibited resale to African-Americans” (20). This notion creates inequality and excludes people of color, favoring Whites over them. On the other hand, Whitehead indicates that “You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now” (23). These memories are used to connect the individuals and formed a community.
In conclusion, based on the data above, it is clear that gentrification has become a social problem in society. Leaders and policymakers need to look into how they can tackle this issue as gentrification can be done without pushing poor people out. From an academic point of view, gentrification, like all social processes, is ambiguous. Different people can find both merits and demerits. The problem with the process discussed in this essay is that it involves the displacement of low-income people to other areas and the destruction of local communities. Gentrification harms social diversity, and from a social justice perspective, gentrification is a problem.
Works Cited
Arieff, Allison. “Designing a More Inclusive City.” The New York Times, 103, 2017, pp. 64-69, Web.
Whitehead, Colson C. “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found.” New York Times, 105, 2001, p. 23, Web.