Editing Gentrification (section)

{{Short description|Urban socioeconomic process}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}

[[File:Gentrification with an old and a new home side by side in Old East Dallas.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.3|Gentrification with a typical [[ranch-style house|ranch house]] side by side with a [[modern architecture|modern]] house in [[Dallas]], Texas in 2020]]

'''Gentrification''' is the process whereby the character of a [[neighborhood]] changes through the influx of more [[Wealth|affluent]] residents (the "[[gentry]]") and investment.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Finio |first=Nicholas |date=2022 |title=Measurement and Definition of Gentrification in Urban Studies and Planning |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08854122211051603 |journal=Journal of Planning Literature |language=en |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=249–264 |doi=10.1177/08854122211051603 |issn=0885-4122|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gentrification|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gentrification|website=Dictionary.com}}{{harvnb|Lees|Slater|Wyly|2010}}{{page needed|date=May 2019}} define gentrification as "the transformation of a working-class or vacant area of the central city to a middle class residential and/or commercial use".</ref> There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Vigdor |first=Jacob L |date=2002 |title=Does Gentrification Harm the Poor? |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/35609 |journal=Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs |volume=2002 |issue=1 |pages=133–182 |doi=10.1353/urb.2002.0012 |issn=1533-4449 |quote=Existing literature on gentrification has failed to arrive at a consensus definition of what the process entails. Some authors define gentrification as private sector–initiated residential and commercial investment in urban neighborhoods accompanied by inflows of households with higher socioeconomic status than the neighborhood’s initial residents. Other authors impose an additional necessary condition that initial residents must be displaced in the process.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":4" /> In public discourse, it has been used to describe a wide array of phenomena, sometimes in a pejorative connotation.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Demsas |first=Jerusalem |date=5 September 2021 |title=What we talk about when we talk about gentrification |url=https://www.vox.com/22629826/gentrification-definition-housing-racism-segregation-cities |website=Vox |language=en}}</ref>

Gentrification is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and [[urban planning|planning]]. Gentrification often increases the [[Value (economics)|economic value]] of a neighborhood, but can be controversial due to changing [[Demography|demographic]] composition and potential displacement of incumbent residents.<ref name=":3" /> Gentrification is more likely when there is an undersupply of housing and rising home values in a metropolitan area.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Daniel |date=2024 |title=Housing cycles and gentrification |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304393224000035 |journal=Journal of Monetary Economics |volume=144 |doi=10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.01.003 |issn=0304-3932|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The gentrification process is typically the result of increasing attraction to an area by people with higher incomes spilling over from neighboring cities, towns, or neighborhoods. Further steps are increased [[Socially responsible investing|investment]]s in a community and the related infrastructure by [[real estate development]] businesses, local government, or [[community activist]]s and resulting [[economic development]], increased attraction of business, and lower [[crime]] rates.