Week 4 – Gentrification, development, and displacement (6/29)

What is gentrification and why does it happen? Do you see it as good, bad, or morally neutral? Who benefits and how? 

Read:

(Read only pp. 3-13 and pp. 75-104.) Hyra, D. S. (2017). Race, class, and politics in the cappuccino city. University of Chicago Press.

Crockett, Jr, S. A. (2012, August 3). The Brixton: It’s new, happening and another example of African-American historical “swagger-jacking.” The Washington Post.

Franke-Ruta, G. (2012, August 10). The Politics of the Urban Comeback: Gentrification and Culture in D.C. The Atlantic.

Moulden, D. (2021). Is gentrification a municipal crime? Reflections and strategies on ‘Urban Activism: Staking Claims in the 21st Century City’. Radical Housing Journal.

Submit by 11am:

1) Response blog #3: How does Hyra’s idea of “Black branding” compare to what Crockett means by “historical swagger-jacking?” What is Franke-Ruta’s argument? Who is committing the crimes that Moulden describes? What parts of these four perspectives do you find most compelling? (250 words)

2) Case study Progress Report

3) Exclusion response

In class: