Williamsburg’s Future

Obviously, none of us can see the future. However, based on what has occurred to other areas that have been through the process of gentrification and the stage that Williamsburg is at right now, we are able to make a prediction. Williamsburg is beginning to go through super-gentrification: where financifiers and wealthy gentrifiers move into the neighborhood. This causes the artists and early gentrifiers to be displaced because “developers [seek] more profitable land uses in such a ‘hot’ neighborhood” (Ross and Levine, 55). For example, SoHo which was once known for it’s “artsy” flavor has become a site of retail chain stores and upscale residences.

These new residences don’t care as much for the “authentic” character or racial and ethnic diversity that had attracted the original gentrifiers. They are moving to these areas, rather, for its “upscale trajectory and its convenient location” (55).  It is at this juncture that trendy boutiques, strip malls, upscales cafes, and luxury apartment buildings begin to arrive in the neighborhood. And this is what is predicted for Williamsburg as it enters its super-gentrification phase.