Gentrification

interactive narrative is an interactive documentary short that follows Marta Aviles, a longtime resident of Brooklyn’s Los Sures neighborhood in South Williamsburg, NY. Living there for nearly forty years, she now faces challenges with the rapid gentrification of her neighborhood. This piece documents her journey in deciding whether to stay or to leave her home. The narrative was broken down into the following structure: Introduction, The Street, The Stairs, The Apartment, The Listing, Part II…

In 1886 Former Toronto Mayor William Holmes Howland coined the term, “Toronto The Good” as his city slogan. (Ruppert, 2006) Derived from associations with middle class, Victorian morality and representing a staunch religious right wing perspective, Toronto was held up as a representative example; thus, according to Frommer’s (tourist guide) it was dubbed “Toronto The Good” (Davidson, 2007). The roots of this label, from where we stand now, are less than ideal. An argument could be made that…

longer be able to afford to live in their own homes. This dream of giving Eastwood a “middle-class” makeover only served to further aggravate an already polarized community. We are asked to consider the many after effects following this process of gentrification. How many more people will be homeless? How many will enter the drug trade? How may more will be injured? The church undoubtedly wants to help its “neighbors” and consequently the “neighborhood” (34). But their actions do not help those…

When the Fifth Amendment was passed in the United States, part of its function was to give the government the power of eminent domain. The power of allows them to take an individual’s private property in return for “just compensation” for “public use” with the intent to better off a community. This could mean that a plot of land could be seized by the government with plans to become a road or a canal. In those cases, the government would be turning a private plot of land into a “public use” in…

Peter Marcuse’s writing on displacement suggests several types of displacement that take place in relation to urban renewal or gentrification: including direct displacement, exclusionary displacement and displacement pressure (1985). These definitions take an economic focus and an assumption that residents experiencing displacement also experience a physical move away from their residence…

the way women of color experience sexualization while also explaining the oppositional consciousness that creates the “Other,” an outsider to hegemonic ideals. Natasha Martin was seen as an “Other” in the area she was in because it is a site of gentrification, where poor, black and Hispanic neighborhoods, formerly “a place of bohemian and transgressive club life,” are erased for what is seen as acceptable under hegemonic ideals. Martin’s oppressions interlocked to make her an outsider to…

The article, The Hollow, focused on many topics that are affecting society today. They include; Gentrification, the effects of the media and technology on society, education, and gay rights. Chris Offutt focused on how it changed the town of Appalachia. He described the changes he began to see as he returned to his home land. What was once a small town that mined clay, was now turning to a town where train stations, tennis courts, and public gardens could be seen. Chain companies began to take…

Growing up in North Philadelphia, I understood ‘White Flight’ to be a negative concept that left the neighborhood that I lived in for my whole life in despair. I remember riding home from school and seeing all of the abandoned warehouses and wondering what was there function and when was the last time people worked in them. The effects of white flight became very evident to me as I learned who once lived in my neighborhood versus who I see remaining. White Flight is a concept that is said to…

Advertisement plays a major role in American society. In these contemporary times, the same idea across the United States has been around since the 1600s. However, individuals do not acknowledge the effects that the “American Dream” causes among society. The American Dream perpetuates the idea that Americans must consume in order to have a utopian lifestyle, or possess power. Many Americans believe that the multimillion company Walt Disney communicates a positive image regarding a a…

themselves from poverty, it only digs them into a deeper hole. The occupants of slums usually tend to be people of color, or non-white people. In countries where there is a distinct contrast between the upper class and the lower class, the process of gentrification is often to blame for this. When rent and housing prices get too high, it becomes hard for poorer…