Insights on Gentrification Through Media Critiques

CENTRALE SUPELEC 2017 Choose a title Write a Synth se 500 words (450-550) and precise your WORD COUNT at the end You have 4 HOURS (four documents)

A Doonesbury cartoon by Garry Trudeau Source: The Guardian, January 13, 2016 Key ideas: The underprivileged are instrumentalized in the process of gentrification Main points: 1. What the cartoon denounced in 1980 s still topical. 2. The process of gentrification is explained. 3. The displaced persons eventually serve the interests of property developers.

Summary The Doonesbury cartoon, was written and illustrated by Gary Trudeau in 1980. The cartoon depicts a scene in a radio station. The comic presents two characters; a radio host and a guest. The radio host asks the guest to explain gentrification. The guest explains gentrification as a retail process: a developer buys a cheap house in a low income, ghetto area, fixes it up, then sells it to someone in the middle class. During the process, the ghetto area becomes trendy and soon after, becomes prime real estate. The radio host asks about the poor people who have been displaced. The guest responds that they are crucial to gentrification because they will move to another area, devalue property there, then that area can be bought cheaply by another developer, sold for profit, and the cycle of gentrification continues. Word count: 138

Bulldoze Jane Jacobs by Peter Moskowitz Source: Slate, May 4th 2016 Key idea; Jane Jacobs s philosophy of urban planning needs revisiting Main points: 1. Celebration of 100th birthday of Jane Jacobs, famous for resisting the urge to modernize inner cities to the detriment of the local life. 2. The Death and Life of American Cities is an iconic book. 3. Gentrification has changed the preserved neighborhoods, which are now havens for well-off whites. 4. Jacobs eventual forecast of more unequal, boring and brutal cities is unfortunately ignored by her fans.

Summary SLATE Bulldoze Jane Jacobs 2016 The article, entitled Bulldoze Jane Jacobs, was written by Peter Moskowitz and published in Slate on May 4, 2016. The article deals with the life and works of Jane Jacobs, a journalist and urban theorist. Jacobs believed that urban planning should be designed for small interactions rather than distance. Neighbourhoods should include close structures and small businesses to encourage conversations. The author also states that Jacobs ideals, though they should be commemorated, were flawed. He exemplifies his point with Manhattan s Greenwich Village and other cities which are now mostly white middle class. The goal of Jacob s urbanism was racial and economic equality, an effort that has yet to be accomplished. Word count: 110

The Guardian 2015 Key idea: Protest against idea that the gentrification of a neighbourhood is a cultural boon The African-American journalist born and brought up in Fillmore neighbourhood of San Francisco protests its current description as a den of vice and crime The superior attitude of gentrification zealots is reminiscent of the Manifest Destiny doctrine. Memories of a Baptist church ahead of its times in its social and political views and a lively cultural life of her community. The culture imported by newcomers to the area is different, less rich and varied.

The Guardian In this article published by The Guardian in February 2015, the author, Shaquia Blake, discusses the gentrification of her hometown San Francisco. Blake states that even though there was crime in her childhood city and her Fillmore neighborhood, it was not lacking culture and there was still a strong sense of community. Blake details the different opportunities she had as a child to access black culture such as; music one couldn t hear on popular radio, historical black journalism, a festival to celebrate the freedom of slaves, and community centers full of African American literature. Blake explains that gentrification did not add culture to her black neighborhood but replaced it with that of wealthy white people. 115

Bring in the hipster, The Economist, 2015 Key idea: Deploring gentrification is an error of appreciation Intense gentrification of Washington DC Gentrifiers are the targets of protests and attacks Soaring housing prices result in the eviction of Blacks from the inner city Facts contradict impressions: Blacks were leaving DC before its gentrification, they are leaving sinking Detroit Average income of Blacks with high-school diplomas soar in gentrified areas Gentrifiers put pressure on authorities to improve the local standards; they generate taxes and help create jobs The real problem is the concentration of poverty

Bring in the hipster, The Economist, 2015 Key idea: Deploring gentrification is an error of appreciation This article, published in The Economist, argues against the idea that gentrification displaces African-Americans but that in some cases, the African-Americans were already leaving. The author uses the examples of Washington and Detroit where African Americans were already leaving without evidence of gentrification. The article also argues that gentrification can add value to a community in several ways, such as adding pressure for the betterment of schools and police. Gentrifiers also create jobs and increase property tax which leads to the improvement of local services. The problem remains the lingering economic and racial separation of neighborhoods created by segregation. 101