In “Building the Frontier Myth”, Neil Smith talks about how neighborhoods evolve over time through the process of gentrification. There was a point in time when people were scared to go past 90th Street. There was a point in time when people were afraid to be in certain neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side. Gentrification not only reflects how certain neighborhoods evolve, but also how people are changing their attitudes towards these neighborhoods.

Now, the Lower East Side is perceived as a hip neighborhood encompassing a variety of bars, restaurants and small boutiques. Neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side are becoming more ‘alive’, and have become popular destinations to live and to hang out with friends. But, low-income residents are forced to leave their homes due to increasing costs. The same thing is happening with Williamsburg, and we find gentrification responsible. It “infects working-class communities, displaces poor households, and converts whole neighborhoods into bourgeois enclaves (116).

This leads to something I find very interesting. Smith compares gentrification and the urban frontier to colonization. Just like the way Europeans colonized different ‘subpar’ parts of the world and took over, gentrification is doing the same. Residents of gentrified neighborhoods are pushed out as newcomers take over. As Smith puts it, these newcomers are usually people of higher income, looking to recolonize these neighborhoods “from the neighborhood out” (116). He also states that it was the civil taking over the uncivil, which I find are not exactly the best words to label people.

One point I also found extremely surprising was about the gentrification of SoHo during the late 1960s and 1970s. I have been to SoHo many times as a shopping and eating destination. I never thought that this region of New York City had undergone gentrification. With so many “upmarket boutiques dispensing fashionable frontier kitsch” concentrated in SoHo, it is quite hard to think so. This makes me wonder about the current neighborhoods experiencing gentrification. Given a few more years, it is not difficult to imagine the Lower East Side or Williamsburg becoming densely visited and populated just like SoHo today.

Since I do believe that certain neighborhoods can reach their maximum potential just as SoHo does, I do support gentrification. It may impact original residents since they can no longer afford to live in these areas, but it is for the better of these neighborhoods. It is for the better of the future of these neighborhoods. And as a New Yorker, I greatly anticipate the further development of currently gentrified areas such as the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and East Harlem.