What is Gentrification?
Gentrification is a property trend that primarily takes place in urban settings. Gentrification is the process of driving up the prices of property and real estate in an area to drive out lower class citizens and import richer, more affluent businessmen and women. This is an all too real concept for many working class families in major cities around primarily Europe and North America.
One of the most documented examples of Gentrification would be TriBeCa, New York. TriBeCa is a neighbourhood in Manhattan that resembles a triangle, hence the name TriangleBelowCanalstreet. In the past two decades, TriBeCa has seen a massive social and economic change with mixed reviews on whether this has helped the community within this area. Below are some photos of before and after this massive rehaul.
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| 78 Greenpoint Avenue |
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47 Java Street  213 N. 8th Street |
As you can see, gentrification has produced a massive effect on New York. However, not all of gentrification is negative. There are clear benefits to the process. Gentrification is a sign of economic progress. Buildings are renovated, parks are beautified, crime rates decline and independent business flourishes. These are only a handful of the positives to do with Gentrification, however the problem with this that many people have debated is if these benefits are correctly passed on to old residents? With gentrification, there is a sweet spot; the calm before the storm. Right in between trendy people moving in and investing into the area and massive conglomerate property developers buying out massive areas of land, the old and new residents are able to live together as a win-win situation. If this sweet spot was able to be maintained, I feel that gentrification could be a massively beneficial process in major cities, making more opportunities for every social class, as long as it is carefully nurtured and kept fair for all residents, old and new alike.
Studies by sociologists on the effects of Gentrification have even resulted in higher economic rewards for the lower class residents than the upper class. There have also been studies that show less residents moving after gentrification begins to occur. Clearly, gentrification has the potential to transform into a positive aspect of city life, with some key aspects implemented into the process.
The part of the world I would like to focus on for my project would be Tower Hamlets, London. Tower Hamlets has one of the biggest economic divides in London to date. You have the hub of business and trading which is Canary Wharf and then you have one of the highest rates of child poverty (52%) occurring in Bethnal Green. The hardest part about trying to illustrate the poverty occuring in Tower Hamlets is that graphs don't show just how much people struggle in the area. Due to the part-gentrification of the area, Tower Hamlets is viewed in graphs as a middle-of-the-pack borough. Canary Wharf definitely skews the graph results of Tower Hamlets but Canary Wharf offers no help towards the poor of Tower Hamlets.
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