gentrification (redirected from gentrified)

gentrification

The informal process of revitalizing an older and deteriorated neighborhood into more upscale homes owned by more affluent occupants. The first step is usually taken by young professionals seeking affordable housing in an urban setting, who immediately begin using disposable income to upgrade their properties.Their efforts attract other like-minded home buyers. Eventually the neighborhood reaches a point where the existing homeowners can afford to sell their properties and buy elsewhere, but they can't afford to pay the increasing property taxes. The process gains momentum at that point, with former apartment buildings being converted to condos, single-family residences undergoing complete renovations, and the entire neighborhood changing to middle class or upper-middle class. It is controversial, with some claiming it destroys the ethnicity and integrity of many older neighborhoods, all in the guise of ethnocentric notions of “improvement.”