Gentrification is a complicated process. At its most basic level, gentrification occurs when neighborhoods receive a sudden influx of investment and changes to the built environment. These changes can include a growing presence of new locally owned or corporate businesses or the development of popular attractions, and they lead to rising property values over several years. The rising costs of living there are affordable for only limited strata of society, so, over time, the neighborhoods original residents are frequently displaced. However, physical displacement is not the only devastating effect of gentrification.
Although gentrification is not a public policy measure, it is a cultural manifestation of long-standing government practices. Historically, the separation and isolation of nonwhite communities have been common practices of both federal and state governments. Public policy measures such as redlining (dating from the 1930s), the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, and modern zoning laws all have contributed to gentrification and all are a legacy of segregationist policy making.
Studies have shown that the process of gentrification in the United States is most prevalent in the country’s most populous cities; however, discriminatory housing policies that can further segregate communities, such as historical redlining and contemporary zoning laws, affect other populous areas of the country too.
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