Gentrification and the Continuous Impact Throughout New York City Communities 

Generations of all kinds have arrived to this nation with dreams of living a life of success. Gentrification removes lower class citizens, and in turn increases the cost of living and leads to major demographical changes. Gentrification certainly has some advantages, but overall it has led to the increase of the homeless population, culture loss, increased group based tensions, increase/change in availability of goods, and other social issues. Today, gentrification may be impossible to prevent, since capitalism is a constant influence.

“Gentrification is the process of renewing deteriorated neighborhoods to benefit the wealthy individuals while displacing those with poor socioeconomic residents, which results in increased property values and the removal of impoverished families and small businesses”. “The restoration of deteriorated urban property or the transformation of a working class or vacant” area of the central city into middle-class residential and/or commercial use”. The media is definitely a big aspect of modern day society that influences people 's perspective on if gentrification is a positive or negative occurrence. Gentrification usually involved business growth to increase the “richness” of a city. Gentrification can have a negative affect and can be seen as a race issue. A “superior” population will take a poorer, mixed-race neighborhood and reconstruct them with their new businesses.

Authority figures and those involved use different methods to isolate the poorer classes, such as the use of media marketing strategies to gentrify and disempower them. Even so, gentrification has many positive effects, but negative effects often surpass the positive ones. Gentrification does not necessarily have to be a negative movement, if we approach it differently, such as attracting new residents while keeping the local residents. Gentrification can also cause tensions amongst the old residents v.s the new resident.

Gentrification can have a negative affect and can be seen as a race issue. A “superior” population will take a poorer, mixed-race neighborhood and reconstruct them with their new businesses. Gentrification has more to do with the socioeconomic of new residents, and not race, although there is a connection. The concept of gentrification is more complex than a standard definition and it takes into account more then we may realize such as: Demographics, Ethnicity, Real Estate, Transportation factors, Land Use, Culture, and Character.

I’ve lived in New York for 20+ Years. I had great friends, but they were the bad influences. Growing up in the Bronx was not easy. It was tough, especially when there were drug dealers and gang members in every corner. The drug dealers were cool in my eyes because they had all the girls, nice cars, and money. I wouldn’t associate with them because my mother would not allow it. My mother is a hard working citizen, always working multiple jobs to pay the bills. There has been a tremendous change in Brooklyn between class related issues and gentrification. Brooklyn is one more economic factor to the city’s wealth per capita since the September 11 attacks. It is Manhattan’s last remaining development and it is on the agenda of the tax revenue of our government. The Brooklyn area adjacent to Manhattan has become a profit. Gentrification allows for capitalism, it does not separate people, it does not go against race, poor and the working class, it wages war on the poor and the working-class.

The article Super-gentrification: The case of Brooklyn Heights, New York City details in length the gentrified are of Brooklyn heights, NY in the mid 2000s. This concept of “super gentrification” comes from gentrified places that are already considered middle class or affluent, to make them even more luxurious. Gentrification has become a popular idea in the United States, a constant topic of urban discussion. It is a process that has attracted the attention of media, architects, national governments, local governments, businesses, urban planners, developers, businesses, and political activists.

Commonly, convention centers, new stadiums and festival marketplaces were built and warehouses along rivers were made into shopping and leisure complex, for example, South Street Seaport in New York City or the west side development near 34th street. Gentrification of neighborhoods pushes out the low-income residents who cannot afford the new expensive houses. The movement of the upper class residents into low class neighborhoods changes the living standards of these neighborhoods. Rent and house prices go up, pushing out the permanent residents who can no longer afford to live in these neighborhoods.

New York is the most popular for this. Gentrification has made New York one of the most expensive city in the United States. The resources in the crown heights, Harlem, Brooklyn heights, DUMBO, etc neighborhoods have increased the living conditions in these neighborhoods. Harlem was an African American neighborhood, but now those who cannot afford housing in the neighborhoods have been driven out.