BY TASHA-REE
Gentrification is the process by which upper-middle class
families and individuals buy and renovate homes and property in an urban area and
thus raise the property value while displacing those that lived there already.
Gentrification is not new to the world, it’s been around for a while, yet
society always seems surprised when it happens. Gentrification reluctantly displaces
lower, middle and working-class families through different mediums. Individual
renters and buyers, by choice and structural forces, move into gentrified areas
Many of these areas are first gentrified by the establishment of mega projects
in these urban areas. State and public forces buy property in these areas and
build large establishments that attract gentrifiers to these areas. These upper
middle class gentrifiers, Their desire to live closer to these large
establishments result in the displacement of those that already live
there. Private businesses have their
hand in gentrification also, in that they help create the desired community
that the gentrifiers want to live in and those that already live there can’t
afford.
Gentrification is not all bad, many people only see one side
of the spectrum. Gentrification brings about diversity of both socio-economic
status and the people that move and can afford to stay there. It also brings
about new businesses and raises the property value of these areas. It increases
the economic revenue directed to this area, uplifting and revitalizing the
areas that might have been forgotten about. But while these things may seem
positive and shed a good light on gentrification, it too has a downside.
Gentrification displaces mass amounts of people from areas that they’ve
possessed for generations. They are displaced not only from the land, but also
from the culture attached and created in these areas.
Being someone who’s witnessed gentrification and has been
displaced, I have had a negative insight of the thought of gentrification.
However, as people become upwardly mobile, gentrification, in a way, becomes inevitable.
People, including myself, after becoming educated and upwardly mobile face the
fear of being chastised by those they knew from their hometown for not wanting
to return. But returning will result in the gentrification of their own people.
Gentrification is a double-edged sword it seems.
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