Poll of the Day > Ignorant LokTopic: Is all urban upgrading considered gentrification?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Or does gentrification explicitly mean malicious upgrading?

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by definition it is changing something to make it more refined

in practice it usually means turning low-income areas into affluent ones, mainly benefitting real estate developers at the cost of pushing out low-income people

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Lokarin posted...

Or does gentrification explicitly mean malicious upgrading?

not all gentrification is even malicious

the negative parts of gentrification suck but its more of an unintended consequence, the goal is to revitalize areas that are financially destitute and open up opportunities for business owners

on the flip side the unfortunate side effect of an area becoming more prosperous is that as demand goes up so does the cost of living, so a lot of residents face hardship or have no choice but to relocate

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It's only really considered gentrification when the cost of living substantially increases. If you knock down a slum for a new affordable housing unit, it's still affordable housing even though it's new. However, if an old rent-controlled slum is replaced by luxury apartments, that's an example of gentrification.

Lokarin posted...

Or does gentrification explicitly mean malicious upgrading?

There's generally nothing "malicious" about it. Often times it's not even entirely intentional, but instead a side-effect of the area improving. And an area can gentrify without changing every building in the area. If new apartments, upscale dining, etc, are added to an area, the remaining apartments -- even without improvements -- tend to rise in value because people with more money want to live there.

In general, it all ties into urban expansion. Places near the center of activity in a city tend to be desirable and, as that area expands, the surrounding area gradually increases in value as well because people want to live close to their jobs, etc. Therefore areas that had been on the outskirts (and thus less relevant) suddenly become more important. Likewise, urban decay isn't simply a matter of buildings getting old and decrepit, but opportunity shrinking (and crime growing) which makes an area less coveted. You can have luxury apartments that aren't worth shit because economic opportunity dried up (and in time those buildings will gradually be less well-kept, the apartments will be subdivided, etc, until it's no longer luxury)

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