Tag Archives: gentrification

7 Rules for Talking About Gentrification

I read articles and blogs about gentrification every day thanks to my daily search for Neighbor News articles, and I have come to the conclusion that most people are at a loss for how to have a constructive conversation about gentrification. If people from different walks of life in a neighborhood can agree on what’s actually going on in their specific neighborhood, then they have a much better shot on working together towards a common solution. If they can’t even talk about what’s happening without confusing or infuriating each other, then there’s little hope. So I have put together some rules for talking about gentrification.
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I Colonize

Urban gentrification is like global colonization. An advantaged people decide they fancy an area and use their advantages to push into it with, at best, disregard, and at worst, disdain, for the people already living there. The invaders use their might to erase the culture of current residents, and eventually, to erase the residents all together.

I know this, and yet, my feelings about gentrification are ambivalent: a blend of concern and guilt. Yes, guilt. Because I have been an urban colonizer. Continue reading

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