Gentrification is basically a generic term for the arrival of wealthier people out there in a pre-existing urban district, a relatable rise in the rents and property values, and the alteration in the culture and character of the district.
This term is often used negatively, suggesting the displacement of the poor communities by the rich outsiders out there, but the effects of gentrification are complex and also contradictory, and its real impact varies.
Many aspects of gentrification are desirable. It is a known fact that everyone would like to experience reduced crimes, new and increased investments in building and infrastructure, and increased economic activities in the neighborhoods.
But unfortunately, the benefits of those modifications and changes are generally enjoyed disproportionately by the new arrivals, whereas the established find themselves socially and economically marginalized.
Pros Of Gentrification:
You will experience the atmosphere of the communities begin to lift up:
The people who come into the communities tend to have a lot of energy, and the credit goes to the gentrification process.
Many folks out there grab a cup of coffee on their way to work, film various low-budget documentaries about their lives, and try to create some cool and trendy experiences for everyone out there.
You would find a conversation waiting for you on almost anything regarding the current events in those neighborhoods.
It creates new options for retail outlets, foods, and jobs:
When the gentrification process starts, you will see that various new buildings and storefronts begin to pop up all around the neighborhood. This shift in perspective can provide several new options for restaurants, retail opportunities, and new hangout spots.
Also, It can even be the foundation for many new jobs in the community that have been lacking them.
As new people of different backgrounds begin to come into the area, you can see that the local boutiques, coffee shops, and thrift stores all tend to shift their products and offerings to create the potential for further revenues and growth.
Gentrification can build new housing opportunities:
When the gentrification processes are emphasized for the community, you can see that the building developers and contractors are buying properties at a much lower price to improve and develop them over time.
This process tends to create a new environment for the neighborhood, which can attract many wealthier buyers that shift the emphasis of the communities.
You will see that the new buildings begin to emerge from the old ones, giving an upgraded look that encourages recycling, minimizes waste, and can even initiate to encourage the crime rates to drop in many areas.
You will experience cleaner neighborhoods with the help of gentrification:
Communities become more attractive to those people with higher levels of wealth when there is less rubbish lying around the neighborhood. The gentrification process tends to clear the streets of a neighborhood to ensure there is a correct level of cleanliness around the surroundings.
Everyone tends to experience the various benefits from these processes because when the garbage is left to lie around, pests, insects, and other germs can begin spreading disease.
Moreover, those with more wealth and money can go for better and more effective services of gentrification to take the available sanitation to the next level.
Gentrification produces new activities and events to try out:
New opportunities are always defined in the areas that tend to experience ‘gentrification’. These neighborhoods actually experience a rise in the mixture of interest-centered clubs or events that are generally family-friendly.
There might be new literature or some clubs that may help you begin making new friends.
It is a good opportunity to try something out that would normally be outside of one particular comfort zone. One even has the opportunity to create new projects that are completely his or her own.
Public safety gets better because of the gentrification process:
When people invest their money in a new community, they want their streets and roads to be safer and better. No one would ever want to be robbed when they are walking around their homes from work.
The process of gentrification tends to encourage new resources out there to come into the community that can pay for additional neighborhood watch programs, police, and advanced security systems, which will protect everyone quite effectively.
Cons of the neighborhood:
It alters the cultural standards of the neighborhood:
Gentrification is not only about the new people who can help a neighborhood. This process tends to force some changes on each and everyone who already lives in that area that is being gentrified.
Instead of trying to continue the existing prevalent culture, it overrides what is already there to cultivate a new standard of normalcy.
Gentrification can sometimes make the community poorer:
Although the gentrification process intends to improve the economic and social conditions of the community, the opposite can sometimes also occur. This change tends to take a negative form when the new members out there of the neighborhood prefer the brand names, franchise stores, and overall convenience.
The mom-and-pop shops which usually dominate these areas before the gentrification often struggle to stay in business because they cannot compete on the same economic scale.
It raises the cost of the rent when it happens:
The process of gentrification tends to increase the cost of rent in a drastic manner. Sometimes, the costs are so high that the average household cannot afford them in the city.
Unless the rent controls placed on the new dwellings increase when a community is being gentrified, the families who may have lived in that area for years are suddenly forced to find a new place for themselves to live.
The newcomers are not even trying to merge themselves into the pre-existing community. They rather want to make it their own.
Gentrification removes the people who created the community:
The primary reason that gentrification becomes a “con” for many communities is that it typically removes the people who built them in the very first place. When these people leave, you tend to lose the neighborhood’s soul.
Although there are several retail benefits to consider and additional job opportunities, there is certainly a different experience when a mom-and-pop coffee shop gets replaced with a Starbucks.
It causes the rich to get richer, and the poor to become poorer:
When the various low-income households are forced out of their neighborhoods, their lifestyle begins to drop. The rising costs of the new place cause the working poor to have a longer commute to work or school, which means that they still pay more, but now have fewer resources because of gentrification.
Gentrification is the process run by the private sector:
Sometimes, the situations end up becoming a public-private partnership. The private sector itself almost always runs Gentrifying. That means that only the community outreach programs or the low-income household growth are the efforts that can lead to future profits.
Almost everything in the world comes with some positive and as well negative aspects, and so does ‘gentrification.’ Above are the most important and often-discussed pros and cons of that process.
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