Regentrification
I currently have a mixed opinion about the regentrification of a neighborhood or area of a city. Now I currently live in a regentrified neighborhood. I enjoy the beautiful old buildings that have been brought back to life. I enjoy the grand architecture. But, I always hear that regentrification is evil from lots of people. I suppose that their statement is based upon the disruption of the previous neighborhood and it's inhabitants. Now, I understand the problem as it usually happens this way: Say you have a depressed neighborhood that has a low value due to it being industrial or devalued property. The inhabitants of the neighborhood are happy, I suppose, with their modest piece of the industrialized city... But then the hipsters move in based on the cheap rent and start migrating into the neighborhood. Eventually, the rest of the population sees that the hipsters have defined a new, up and coming attractive neighborhood and start moving in. As more people move in the cost of living in the neighborhood goes up (because of higher demand), thereby displacing the original inhabitants of the town and the original hipsters that started the movement leaving the population of mainstream "yuppies".. Now I do see the downside of this scenario and I do feel for the plight of the "original" inhabitants of the town (a subjective statement depending on when you are talking). But on the other hand regentrification brings back to life a city that was once dead, underutilized, and sometimes even polluted brownfields. In addition, regentrification is pretty "green" as well since most of the buildings are reused and therefore cause fewer resources to be used in construction. I also feel that regentrification reinvogorates a community and a culture too. Unfortunately, by doing so it also displaces another community and culture. The part that I don't agree with is when regentrification goes too far and starts turning a beautiful old neighborhood into a mainstream strip mall in the suburbs. I think the best and most logical solution to trying to fairly plan for all is to purposely target and provide for mixed income communities as to not shut people out. This is probably the best of both worlds. Because history has taught us that creating "the projects" is no way to solve this problem. What are your thoughts on regentrification?