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Research papers on Gentrification and displacement

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  1. Gentrification: Culture And Capital In The Urban Core

    Sharon Zukin · 1987 · Annual Review of Sociology · 674 citations

    Gentrification, the conversion of socially marginal and working-class areas of the central city to middle-class residential use, reflects a movement, that began in the 1960s, of private-market investment capital into downtown districts of major urban centers. Related to a shift in corporate investment and a corresponding expansion of the urban service economy, gentrification was seen more immediately in architectural restoration of deteriorating housing and the clustering of new cultural amenities in the urban core. Research on gentrification initially concentrated on documenting its extent, tracing it as a process of neighborhood change, and speculating on its consequences for reversing tre

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  2. Missing Marcuse: On gentrification and displacement

    Tom Slater · 2009 · City · 495 citations

    Peter Marcuse's contributions to the study of gentrification and displacement are immense, not just when measured in theoretical development, but in analytical rigour, methodological influence, cross‐disciplinary relevance and intellectual–political commitment to social justice. However, his contributions have been conveniently missed in the disturbing 21st‐century scholarly, journalistic, policy and planning rescripting of gentrification as a collective urban good. This paper charts and exposes the politics of knowledge production on this pivotal urban process by critically engaging with recent arguments that celebrate gentrification and/or deny displacement. I explain that these arguments

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  3. Gentrification, Displacement, and the Role of Public Investment

    Miriam Zuk, Ariel H. Bierbaum, Karen Chapple, et al. · 2017 · Journal of Planning Literature · 456 citations

    Scholarly interest in the relationship between public investments and residential displacement dates back to the 1970s and the aftermath of displacement related to urban renewal. A new wave of scholarship examines the relationship of gentrification and displacement to public investment in transit infrastructure. Scholarship has generally conflated gentrification and displacement; however, this review argues for a clearer analytical distinction between the two. Although the displacement discussion in the United States began with the role of the public sector and now has returned to the same focus, it will be necessary to overcome methodological shortcomings to arrive at more definitive conclu

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  4. Measuring Gentrification and Displacement in Greater London

    Rowland Atkinson · 2000 · Urban Studies · 349 citations

    The use of aggregate data to understand the linkages between gentrification and displacement has been considered problematic because of a lack of refinement or closeness to the nature of these processes as well as lacking the ability to 'track' displacees. This paper presents the results of pioneering work designed to overcome these problems by combining cross-sectional census data with spatially re-aggregated longitudinal census data (the Longitudinal Study). Using established approaches to measure gentrification, via proxy measures, and devising others for its potential displacees, the work demonstrates a displacement effect clustered around gentrified wards. Attempts are made to quantify

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  5. Gentrification, Displacement, and Tourism in Santa Cruz De Tenerife

    Luz Marina García Herrera, Neil Smith, Miguel Ángel Mejías Vera · 2007 · Urban Geography · 133 citations

    This paper analyzes the relationship between postwar urban redevelopment and the more recent transition that fused subsequent gentrification with tourism strategies in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). First, it examines the long endeavor of local government to foster neighborhood change in coalition with tourism and commercial development planning, and documents the intimate connection between gentrification and displacement. Second, it sheds light on the entwined effects of gentrification and tourism in the transformation of this urban outpost of the European Union.

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  6. Unequal Displacement: Gentrification, Racial Stratification, and Residential Destinations in Philadelphia

    Jackelyn Hwang, Lei Ding · 2020 · American Journal of Sociology · 127 citations

    Drawing from sociological theory and research on residential mobility and neighborhood stratification, which primarily explain urban decline and persistent segregation, the authors propose a framework for examining residential displacement in the context of gentrification. Using this framework, this study assesses how gentrification shapes whether and where disadvantaged residents move, using a unique large-scale consumer credit database of residents in Philadelphia from 2002 to 2014. The authors find that gentrification’s consequences on the residential mobility patterns of financially disadvantaged residents are unequally distributed by the racial contexts in which gentrification is taking

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  7. Hygienisation, Gentrification, and Urban Displacement in Brazil

    Jeff Garmany, Matthew A. Richmond · 2019 · Antipode · 79 citations

    Abstract This article engages recent debates over gentrification and urban displacement in the global South. While researchers increasingly suggest that gentrification is becoming widespread in “Southern” cities, others argue that such analyses overlook important differences in empirical context and privilege EuroAmerican theoretical frameworks. To respond to this debate, in this article, we outline the concept of higienização (hygienisation), arguing that it captures important contextual factors missed by gentrification. Hygienisation is a Brazilian term that describes a particular form of urban displacement, and is directly informed by legacies of colonialism, racial and class stigma, info

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  9. Gentrification and displacement

    Paul Watt · 2013 · The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration · 30 citations

    Abstract This essay provides an overview of the topic of gentrification with an emphasis on displacement. According to the urban geographer Tom Slater (2009: 294), gentrification means “the transformation of a working‐class or vacant area of a city into middle‐class residential and/or commercial use.” Incoming high‐income groups therefore colonize (gentrify) a previously working‐class urban neighborhood, as occurred in postwar Islington, north London, which prompted the sociologist Ruth Glass to coin the term “gentrification” back in 1964 (Lees et al. 2008: 4). However, contemporary gentrification occurs on a far larger scale than in previous decades and refers more broadly to the class rema

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  13. Faith-Driven Gentrification and Displacement in Education in Israeli Urban Neighborhoods

    Janet Cohen, Miriam Billig · 2021 · Education and Urban Society · 5 citations

    Community-based, Judaism-intensive action groups (Hebrew: Gar’inim Toraniim—GTs) are religiously motivated to settle in Israeli development towns, seeking to narrow social gaps through education. However, their influence has never been fully clarified. This study is grounded in the theory of educational gentrification and introduces the concept of Faith-Driven Gentrification. Until now research has lacked voice from local people forced to face the intervention of settlers driven by religion and their influence on urban school systems. The findings, based on institutional data and in-depth interviews, show that GTs alter the structure of educational systems and the dominant educational ethos.

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  17. Neighborhood Change and Gentrification Near Three Urban Trails

    Greg Lindsey, Yunlei Qi, Torsha Bhattacharya, et al. · 2021 · Findings · 1 citations

    This paper describes changes in indicators of gentrification in neighborhoods adjacent to recently opened multiuse trails in three US cities. We hypothesize changes are greater in abutting Census Block Groups (CBGs) than in CBGs further from the trails and use a case-control, pre-post design to report changes in gentrification status and related indicators three years after opening. We provide evidence of gentrification near each trail, but in two cases the majority of gentrifiable CBGs in treatment groups remained gentrifiable after three years. Rates and degree of gentrification associated with new trails differ depending on context.

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  18. Inplacement, not just displacement: Urban assemblages and neighborhood stability in the face of gentrification

    Nina C. Martin, Chris D. Poulos, Leiha Edmonds · 2026 · Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

    In recent decades, residents and community organizations in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Albany Park, on Chicago’s northwest side, have been resisting gentrification, emerging as one of the city’s most active neighborhoods in anti-displacement organizing and policy setting. We seek to understand how a multiplicity of actors, human and non-human, have coalesced to achieve a modicum of success in stalling, subverting, and overcoming gentrification and its attendant displacement of low-income residents. We draw on the work of urban assemblage theorists to build a temporal and spatial analysis, showing the complex assemblage of resistance actors, their experiences, and their narratives

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  19. Urban redevelopment without displacement : investigating the gentrification of the Fountain Square neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana

    Chidochashe R. Moyo · 2016 · Cardinal Scholar (Ball State University)

    Urban redevelopment, revitalization, renewal and gentrification are all terms used to define reinvestment and middle class invasion into once abandoned, and disinvested communities. While many of these terms mostly highlight the positive transformation that is brought by this reinvestment and reinvasion, the term gentrification also highlights the accompanying negative changes that are brought onto some of these communities’ low-income residents. Gentrification is defined as the economic transformation of low-income disinvested communities into middle and high-income communities resulting in the displacement of low-income residents (Lees, Slater, and Wyly, 2010). After more than three decade

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  20. GENTRIFICATION AND URBAN DISPLACEMENT: A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON COMMUNITY CHANGE AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY

    Dr. Faisal Mahmood · 2022 · Zonal Journal of Researcher's Inventory

    This article investigates the sociological dimensions of gentrification and urban displacement, focusing on how neighborhood transformations reshape social relations, cultural identity, and economic conditions. Gentrification, characterized by an influx of higher-income residents and capital investment, often leads to the displacement of low-income communities, raising critical issues of social justice and spatial inequality. Drawing on urban sociology theories, the study analyzes the processes, actors, and consequences of gentrification, including changes in housing markets, social networks, and community cohesion. Through case studies from global cities, the paper highlights the contested

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  21. The cultural identity and urban values of the Wayku neighborhood in Lama

    Erick Paolo Pérez Núñez Erick Paolo Pérez Núñez, Katty Marilyn Alegría Lazo · 2024 · Gentrification

    Introduction: the majestic setting of the urban area surrounding public spaces has an urban planning value that is fundamental to the identity of a place and must be preserved in whole or in part. Objective: to characterize the cultural identity and urban planning values of the Wayku neighborhood in Lama. Method: a non-experimental, observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted. A population of 8,883 inhabitants was defined in that area. The sample for the analytical study is composed of 211 community residents, both men and women. The study is based on accurate and rigorous information, in accordance with the standards of scientific and research methods. Results: 158 p

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  22. Unsettling gentrification: Toward a site ontology of displacement

    Stefano Bloch · 2026 · Dialogues in Urban Research

    This article critically interrogates the conceptual coherence of “gentrification” in urban research, arguing instead for centering displacement within studies of place making and place taking. Weaving together personal experiences of serial eviction in Los Angeles and a review of the literature, I argue that “gentrification” has lost its relevance, having become a catch-all term burdened with socio-political baggage and contested meaning. In making this case for abandoning “gentrification,” I argue for advancing displacement in terms of how it plays out in sites, relationally, contingently, and affectively among agents, objects, and atmospheres. By foregrounding displacement as social, mater

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  23. Gentrification and foodscapes: An integrative review of neighborhood change and food access

    Hilary Ansah, Yongmei Lu · 2026 · Urban Studies

    This article presents a purposive integrative review of research published since 2000 examining the dynamics of food environments and residents’ experiences of food access in relation to urban gentrification. The review synthesizes findings on how food environments and gentrification processes interact and how these interactions influence access for different groups. Guided by a realist Context–Mechanism–Outcome framework, the analysis identifies recurring mechanisms across diverse contexts, focusing on how food establishments function as drivers and signals of neighborhood change, how foodscape transformations create uneven access across demographic groups, and how communities respond. From

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