Blog #9

Personal observation of gentrification

Dictionary.com states that gentrification is : the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.

So I am a little unsure of this definition. Does completely knocking down housing and rebuilding count as gentrification? Because I have witnessed much of this in the area that I live. Directly across the street from where I live on Taylor and Racine new housing has been put in place of old run down housing. There is also some very run down housing along Taylor street that has been closed up and boarded. There are about 4 of those buildings left on Taylor and one still has families living in them. The one building that still has people living in it seems to be very overcrowded and many people hang out there. But I can’t really say how this has changed things because this has all been in the process since I moved in. But the buildings they put up across the street are quite nice so I cannot imagine that the people who lived in them before can afford them now.