Exeres wrote:
I'll bite, what is that thing you said?
Gentrification is the process of adding value to a neighborhood or location in general that ends up driving out the local population and/or businesses in favor of new (and almost always wealthy) individuals, which often destroys what made the area appealing to begin with. It can start with something as simple as a convenience store or a wal-mart/target/etc. opening in the area, which intrinsically makes the area a bit more valuable to live in. It usually happens in run-down areas because the land is cheaper and there are more options to dress up and fix some of the problems (deteriorating buildings, crime, etc.), though it can also occur in places that are experiencing major growth (a bit of what's happening in my area of Texas).
Easiest way to describe the effect is the episode of South Park where rich people discover the town and how quaint it is, and decide to move in en masse. At first, the citizens are pop flyin' about the new wealth and faces moving into the town, but eventually they get fed up with the changes made to the town and try to find a way to go back to how things used to be. Alternatively, imagine what happens to mom-and-pop shops when big business appears in town, which is a business version of gentrification.
When gentrification is occurring, it's hard to stop. The inherent value that was placed into the community not only drives up prices for vacant homes in the area, which means that ethnic neighborhoods often become too expensive for those in that ethnic group to even move into new homes, but there's also pressure from within the changing community to push out individuals who have been there much longer. Apartment complexes get bought out and renovated, raising rent that forces families out, property taxes and value increase, neighborhood associations are formed and older residents are forced to abide by their newly formed rules or face sanctions, and sometimes the cost of living just outstrips the income of the people living in the area.
In the most optimistic sense, urban gentrification is a good thing. No one would be against tearing down a run down building that's been out of commission for 20+ years to put a pharmacy or a doctor's office or even a grocery store in that would make things more convenient (and maybe even cheaper) for the residents of a lesser loved area. The reality is that things don't often stop at that. The changes don't tend to happen overnight, but in 10-20 years an entire community can be so utterly changed and sanitized into "Smalltown USA" (though this issue is definitely not limited to the US), that not only do we lose some heritage and culture from the area, but the people we tried to help to begin with end up being forced back to living how they used to before anyone ever intervened to help their area. The only difference is the place they grew up and lived their lives and raised their families effectively no longer exists.
The time scale can seem a bit large, and it's easy to think that communities naturally progress and change anyways, but think about the fact that if you were starting Kindergarten when this happened, your community that you grew up in could be gone by the time you reached high school or ended up married in your mid 20's. I personally grew up in a town whose population between the 2000 and 2010 census went up by over 500%.
It's a complicated issue.
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