Comments on: Writings on gentrification

Question: Writings on gentrification

umbú — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:33:09 -0800

What are the best articles and books on the complications of urban gentrification? What about the relationship of artists and bohemians to this process?

I am gathering nuanced texts on urban gentrification. Right now, I'm digging through academic sources from anthropology, cultural geography, urban studies, sociology, and the like.

High-protein journalism and popular press would be definitely welcome as well. I'm interested in both gentrification as a phenomenon in general, and more specifically the role of artists in this process.

By: shushufindi

shushufindi — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:40:54 -0800

Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade In The Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas is a classic. Not too much in there about artists though.

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:42:18 -0800

Here's a blog on that very topic including a documentary.

I should add, the initial project was just about the artists, but took on a new life as the peak tagging area began to rapidly develop.

By: jgirl

jgirl — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:44:41 -0800

Seconding the Lukas book. Fabulous.

By: artemisia

artemisia — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:03:30 -0800

I feel like I recommend this a lot, but here's an ethnography of the gentrification of Wicker Park, which is now ground zero for hipster culture in Chicago: Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City.

By: enn

enn — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:03:31 -0800

Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City. Awful title, great book.

By: reren

reren — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:17:03 -0800

I've heard good things about Sarah Schulman's The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination.

By: occidental

occidental — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:58:39 -0800

You should check out There Goes the 'Hood.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:24:10 -0800

Sarah Schulman's The Gentrification of the Mind is good. It's more of a memoir than a sociology text, and it really details the experience of artists and queers in relation to gentrification. A lot of it is about how AIDS tore through 'bohemia' in NYC and created an opportunity for gentrification (because the tenants of rent-controlled units were dying).

By: avocet

avocet — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:15:38 -0800

Neil Smith's The New Urban Frontier.

By: hydatius

hydatius — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:53:59 -0800

Came in here to recommend the Schulman book...

By: nanhey

nanhey — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:02:36 -0800

this piece just ran in the NYT about the founder of zappos trying to revitalize (and as a result probably gentrify in the future) downtown vegas.

By: umbú

umbú — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:25:00 -0800

Thanks, all!