Billingham, Chase M. “THE BROADENING CONCEPTION OF GENTRIFICATION: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND AVENUES FOR FUTURE INQUIRY IN THE SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF URBAN CHANGE.” Michigan Sociological Review 29 (2015): 75-102. JSTOR. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

The author examines how broader perspectives of gentrification should be integrated into mainstream discussions of gentrification. The author views the current mainstream understanding of gentrification as being too narrow and heavily focused on its negative effects rather than the benefits it may bring to many cities. He feels that a broader understanding of gentrification is crucial in the debate over whether gentrification is beneficial or harmful. There are five areas in which gentrification can be studied differently. One way this can be done is by “widening the neighborhood lens,” and studying gentrification trends in larger municipal and regional areas more closely, where it can bring economic prosperity, because the discussion has been strongly centered around specific neighborhoods that have emphasized the negative effects of gentrification. A second way this can be done is by “widening the municipal lens,” and including more cities into the study rather than just New York City, Chicago, and London, which are disproportionately studied more than other cities. A third way this can be done is by “widening the life-course lens,” and studying other age and background groups of gentrifiers besides hipsters and artists, which only make up a small portion of gentrifiers but seem to be emphasized much more than other groups, which may have different effects on the areas they are moving into. A fourth way this can be done is by “widening the institutional lens,” and incorporating gentrification’s positive effects on various social and economic institutions: such as mass transit, public safety, and schools. A fifth way this can be done is by “widening the political lens,” and discussing other outcomes of gentrification besides low-income group displacement, which is negative, but may be exaggerated. This work is useful because it seeks to consider gentrification in a more positive light, which may be helpful in comparing it to the majority of views that are negative. It will be interesting to see if residents ever consider the benefits of gentrification since its injuries seem to be the main topic of discussion.

Chronopoulos, Themis. “African Americans, Gentrification, and Neoliberal Urbanization: The Case of Fort Greene, Brooklyn.” Journal of African American Studies 20.3-4 (2016): 294-322. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

The author analyzes how gentrification patterns have changed Fort Greene since the 1960s. From the 1960s to 1980s, black middle- and upper middle-class professionals were the gentrifying agents of the area. This area was gentrified through a bottom-up process and low-income blacks resisted government attempts to displace them, upholding the idea of black spatial imaginary, which insisted that the best way to advance neighborhood interests was community control by low-income blacks. The black freedom movement was flourishing as the white population declined and the black population significantly increased. This movement was marked by protests and organizations advancing the needs of low-income residents. A black cultural renaissance was taking place in these areas where black middle-class people were replacing low-income residents. However, this began to change in the 1990s as the Mayor Giuliani ushered in the “orderly city” and began cracking down on crime, targeting low-income residents in the area. Fort Greene, once a dominating black urban area, began to be whitened by affluent college-educated white residents, the new gentrifying agents, moving into the area because it was now considered safer. Since the early 2000s, the white population has increased significantly and the area has been rapidly gentrifying in the “neoliberal urbanization” of the city. This work is useful and unique because it discusses how gentrification in this area was once a class issue but has now evolved into more of a race issue. An analysis on how Fort Greene was once gentrified by black middle-class people gives a different perspective to the issue and highlights how detrimental this new form of rapid gentrification by white people is to the black diaspora populations in Brooklyn and New York City as a whole.

Lees, Loretta. “Super-gentrification: The Case of Brooklyn Heights, New York City.” Urban Studies 40.12 (2003): 2487-2509. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

          The author defines and examines a new form of gentrification— super-gentrification, which is the “regentrification” of some areas in New York in particular. These areas are already gentrified in the traditional sense– having become wealthier and more developed upper-middle class neighborhoods. This article focuses on Brooklyn Heights, where property values have been significantly more expensive since the 1990s.  However, they the area is now experiencing a third-wave of gentrification by extremely wealthy financiers and corporations. This type of gentrification has multiple forms: the traditional form—by wealthy individuals renovating properties and displacing low-income residents; and the state-led form—which are government policies that support gentrification in large-scale forms. Brooklyn Heights’ history is studied closely—from being a wealthy historic community, to an area of widespread slum housing (as a result of upper-middle class residents fleeing to suburbs), to a haven for young adults in the post WWII era that began renovating its historic buildings. As a result, the area became more prosperous and attracted corporate interests that began to take over the area with new projects and commercial centers. Since then, residents have felt that the area has been lost to these commercial and corporate interests, which are most noticeable in the sky-rocketing property values that are becoming more luxurious and are attainable for the super-rich only. This work is useful because it analyzes another form of gentrification that is more extreme than the traditional form. The area we are studying, Flatbush, is undergoing the traditional form of gentrification but it will be useful to compare it to Brooklyn Heights, an area far past the traditional form and can give insight into what Flatbush may become in the future.

Pearsall, Hamil. “Moving out or Moving In? Resilience to Environmental Gentrification in New York City.” Local Environment 17.9 (2012): 1013-1026. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

         The author describes another form of gentrification—environmental gentrification, a theory that is not thought to be heavily considered in the mainstream discussion of gentrification. Environmental gentrification occurs when governments implementing sustainability and environmental efforts neglect to consider the social changes that will occur in the communities they are improving. These improvements can often make low-income residents vulnerable to displacement and over time change the communities they are implemented in. The author also examines the residents’ resilience to gentrification—how they are resisting possibly being forced out of their communities in the face of rent increases, in three New York City neighborhoods. Most of the residents studied did not explicitly face displacement but they were concerned about how gentrification was changing their communities. They took advantage of government protection in the forms of public housing and rent regulation, to resist displacement. Community members coped with gentrification through rent stabilization and home ownership. These residents also became increasingly politically active in their communities through organizations committed to anti-gentrification activism. This work will be useful because it will allow us to understand how low-income residents are reacting to gentrification and if are able to remain resilient. 

Yee, Vivian. “Gentrification in a Brooklyn Neighborhood Forces Residents to Move On.” The New York Times 27 Nov. 2015: n. pag. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

The author describes how gentrification is affecting the current residents of many New York City neighborhoods while focusing on Crown Heights specifically. African-American and West-Indian residents are being pushed out of their once affordable apartments as they struggle to avoid eviction against sky-rocketing rents and landlords trying to force them out. Most of these people have been living in the neighborhood for decades and detest the thought of leaving, often resisting buyouts and tolerating vermin just to remain in their homes. Eventually however, these factors overwhelm these residents and they either move in with family, move to a more affordable New York City neighborhood, or flee to another state or their homes in the West Indies. Some unfortunately are driven into poverty and homelessness. As a result, the black populations of these neighborhoods are decreasing significantly and wealthier white college educated residents are moving in. The changes to the neighborhood are described as coming “slowly, and then all at once.” This work is useful for understanding how West Indians in particular are being affecting by and reacting to gentrification. This work focuses more on the financial factors causing current West Indian residents to leave, which gives insight into their personal attachments to the Brooklyn neighborhood as they deliberate their options and resist the gentrification attempting to force them out.