These are three important points that I learned through this week's readings:
-Gentrification is used in a negative way, but in fact not all of its implications are negative. The current problem with gentrification is that the positive outcomes of it (such as new buildings and increased economic activity) are not to the benefit of the long-term residents of the area, but to the benefits of the people who have newly arrived.
-Gentrification threatens to completely change a urban area, erasing an important part of its history and therefore richness. This is important not only because a culture's heritage should be valued, but also to the people who have lived in the area and who see their roots in it.
-East Austin is now very different from what it was before and we have to be conscious of the fact that, one century ago, it was a place of segregation. The dynamics and lifestyle that have been built up over the years by the inhabitants of the area have been brutally interrupted and are now not recognisable anymore.
I feel like East Austin is stepford wives places with children and young families and PTA meetings, it so boring and un Austiny
ReplyDeleteMaria, I am curious to know how gentrification has affected France. What are you seeing there? I love how you identify the threat of gentrification as erasing the richness of a community.. So true!
ReplyDeleteI agree that gentrification now has this negative connotation. I don't know how to balance the pros and cons to place my opinion in it. I think gentrification is simply a pattern of urban development that often has negative effects. It's interesting to view gentrification as the after effects of segregation of the early 1900s.
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