Route Fifty, March 21st. 2019: Gentrification is most concentrated in large cities
Chicago, Washington D.C., New York City and Philadelphia are among seven cities that account for nearly half the gentrification in the United States, according to a study released this week by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Baltimore, Los Angeles and San Diego round out the top seven. In contrast, researchers found that medium and small cities were unlikely to be touched by gentrification.
“Gentrification was centered on vibrant downtown business districts, and in about a quarter of the cases it was accompanied by racialized displacement,” researchers wrote in the study. “Displacement disproportionately impacted black and Hispanic residents who were pushed away before they could benefit from increased property values and opportunities in revitalized neighborhoods. This intensified the affordability crisis in the core of our largest cities.”
The study defines gentrification as occurring when “an influx of investment and changes to the built environment leads to rising home values, family incomes and educational levels of residents.” That phenomenon often leads to minorities being pushed out of their long-time neighborhoods, which the study defines as cultural displacement, or what happens ”when minority areas see a rapid decline in their numbers as affluent, white gentrifiers replace the incumbent residents.”
