Why Is “Authenticity” Coveted?

The idea of “authenticity” reflected in both overall modern terms, and in the context of the city neighborhoods being gentrified, is one that is coveted by the people. People want to be seen as “authentic” and people want to be a part of a neighborhood known for its “authentic” culture. However, the reasoning behind the allure of this quality varies, and trying to understand this reason properly could help illuminate the reason why gentrifiers become enamored with certain areas in the city on the basis of “authenticity.” Richard Greenwald, a professor of history and sociology and the dean of St. Joseph’s College, wrote an article called “Why Is ‘Authenticity’ So Central to Urban Culture?” in which he spoke about the current process of hyper-gentrification and how it led to a new, more uniform city “renewed” by the corporate world. Zukin further supported this idea: “…the city as we knew it was gone. It became a corporate city of transnational headquarters, big-box stores, and Business Improvement Districts…” (222). With this new establishment of big business changing the outlook of the city, the issue of “authenticity” becomes more and more important as places championed for their rich culture began to lose it as many gentrifiers guided their choices of where they want to live in the city based on that idea.

Greenwald spoke specifically about individuality as the basis for why people invest in “authenticity,” With the increased uniformity of the city, people strive to maintain individuality and therefore turn to this idea as a way to attain that perception of being unique. He brings up Jacobs, as an indication that the city itself has its own unique character that should be preserved. As a result, living in the city eventually represents the notion of achieving authenticity, and subsequently individuality (Greenwald). In my opinion, I believe that the idea of individuality is not the main reason behind this so-called “obsession” with authenticity (Greenwald). In congruence with Zukin, I believe that the allure of this idea lies in the feeling of wanting to be a part of a rich culture that was made before gentrification took hold. This quality is similar to the comfort of nostalgia, in that it represents a feeling a yearning or wanting to be a part of something from a specific time that all of a sudden became popular (Zukin 220). A prime example is Harlem, a neighborhood previously made up of lower and lower middle class individuals, generally an unsafe and dilapidated area of Manhattan in the past, but carrying a rich culture and history that later on, after the corporate city made its stake thanks to cheap land, became a reason for people to want to come. Rather than an example of promoting individuality of the people who came to Harlem, it was promoting the feeling of yearning to be a part of an overall unique culture. The problem with gentrification in regards to authenticity, is that once the original people who began the culture are displaced, and capitalism drives renovations and overall “revitalization” to accommodate for gentrifiers, that authentic culture erodes with the expansion of a corporate city.