gentrification
the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, raising property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.
the process of conforming to an upper- or middle-class lifestyle, or of making a product, activity, etc., appealing to those with more affluent tastes: the gentrification of fashion.
Origin of gentrification
1word story For gentrification
She noted that once started, gentrification can progress “rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced, and the whole social character of the district is changed.” As gentrification spread to other cities around the world, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, the term also surged in use to describe these urban transformations.
Gentrification finds its etymological roots in the term gentry , or more specifically, landed gentry , a British social class of wealthy landowners who lived off their land by collecting rent from tenant farmers in cash or as a portion of the produce. The landowners also acted as local magistrates and as the caretakers of their tenants.
Glass observed that although the middle class were “uplifting” the status and condition of previously run-down residential areas, gentrification was not a simple issue by any means. The displacement of poorer families and small businesses and the disappearance of their local culture and history were among the problematic outcomes of gentrification from the outset, and this continues to be a major point of debate today. So much so, that among some critics of gentrification the term is viewed as a code word for the destructive removal of poor people, especially poor people of color, in urban neighborhoods. In light of this cultural history, it is important to keep the various connotations attached to gentrification ’s meaning in mind when using the term.
Words Nearby gentrification
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use gentrification in a sentence
Certain patterns emerged that highlight the interdependent relationship between restaurants and the numerous phases of urban gentrification.
The Stages of Gentrification, as Told by Restaurant Openings | Vince Dixon | September 30, 2020 | EaterThe third phase of the gentrification process is perhaps the most noticeable, but by then, intervention is difficult.
The Stages of Gentrification, as Told by Restaurant Openings | Vince Dixon | September 30, 2020 | EaterMarcos Carbajal, Inocencio’s son, and now a co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan, is torn over the gentrification of Pilsen.
The Stages of Gentrification, as Told by Restaurant Openings | Vince Dixon | September 30, 2020 | EaterHolistically, this will relieve some gentrification pressure.
Single-Family Zoning’s Century of Supremacy in San Diego | Andrew Keatts | August 26, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoYou find evidence that rent control increases gentrification, one component of which is the displacement of low-income tenants.
Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Ep. 373 Rebroadcast) | Stephen J. Dubner | March 12, 2020 | Freakonomics
And gentrification is fine, the problem is the consequences—the people outside your line of sight—which is very troubling.
Julian Casablancas Enters the Void: On the Strokes’ Friction, Why He Left NYC, and Starting Over | Marlow Stern | October 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe cellphone use among pedestrians has dovetailed insidiously with hyper-gentrification, Moss says.
The End of New York: How One Blog Tracks the Disappearance of a Vibrant City | Tim Teeman | August 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHip trendsetters are blamed for everything from gentrification to expensive beer.
Despite the hype over gentrification, urban economies—including that of New York—still underperform their periphery.
This is gentrification of the fashion seen everywhere from Minneapolis to Mumbai.
'It's Better To Jump' Tackles Gentrification in Akka | Matt Lerner | November 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for gentrification
/ (ˌdʒɛntrɪfɪˈkeɪʃən) /
British a process by which middle-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city, changing the character of the area
Origin of gentrification
1Derived forms of gentrification
- gentrifier, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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