Environmental or "green" gentrification, a concept which has recently been named in environmental justice literature, is the process by which public initiatives intended to improve the environmental conditions or sustainability of a given area ultimately drive the displacement of low-income residents. Environmental gentrification may arise as an unfortunate and unintended consequence of environmental projects, or such projects may be intentionally used by city planners and high-end developers as a means of boosting property values or furthering other economic goals. This paper seeks to identify which strategies are effective in community organizing around mitigating gentrification and displacement risks in the face of urban environmental initiatives, and whether similar strategies can be applied across cities. These questions are answered through a series of interviews with members of community-based organizations (CBOs), employees of City agencies, local officials, and neighborhood residents involved with public action surrounding the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) in New York City and the 606 Bike Trail in Chicago. Findings indicate that the construction of new green space amenities – or improvements upon old ones – must be recognized as potential catalysts for gentrification, and communities and Cities together must take action preemptively to protect existing residents from the pressures of gentrification and neighborhood change.
Ro Redfern-Taube (Fri,) studied this question.
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