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The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City

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  • Kathe Newman

    (Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA, knewman@rci.rutgers.edu)

  • Elvin K. Wyly

    (Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada, ewyly@geog.ubc.ca)

Abstract

Displacement has been at the centre of heated analytical and political debates over gentrification and urban change for almost 40 years. A new generation of quantitative research has provided new evidence of the limited (and sometimes counter-intuitive) extent of displacement, supporting broader theoretical and political arguments favouring mixed-income redevelopment and other forms of gentrification. This paper offers a critical challenge to this interpretation, drawing on evidence from a mixed-methods study of gentrification and displacement in New York City. Quantitative analysis of the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey indicates that displacement is a limited yet crucial indicator of the deepening class polarisation of urban housing markets; moreover, the main buffers against gentrification-induced displacement of the poor (public housing and rent regulation) are precisely those kinds of market interventions that are being challenged by advocates of gentrification and dismantled by policy-makers. Qualitative analysis based on interviews with community organisers and residents documents the continued political salience of displacement and reveals an increasingly sophisticated and creative array of methods used to resist displacement in a policy climate emphasising selective deregulation and market-oriented social policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathe Newman & Elvin K. Wyly, 2006. "The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(1), pages 23-57, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:43:y:2006:i:1:p:23-57
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980500388710
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bahar Sakizlioğlu, 2014. "Inserting Temporality into the Analysis of Displacement: Living Under the Threat of Displacement," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 206-220, April.
    2. Pablo Mendez & Noah Quastel, 2015. "Subterranean Commodification: Informal Housing and the Legalization of Basement Suites in Vancouver from 1928 to 2009," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1155-1171, November.
    3. Chiara Valli, 2015. "A Sense of Displacement: Long-time Residents' Feelings of Displacement in Gentrifying Bushwick, New York," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1191-1208, November.
    4. Tom Slater, 2008. "‘A Literal Necessity to be Re‐Placed’: A Rejoinder to the Gentrification Debate," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 212-223, March.
    5. Peter K. Mackie & Rosemary D.F. Bromley & Alison M.B. Brown, 2014. "Informal Traders and the Battlegrounds of Revanchism in Cusco, Peru," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1884-1903, September.
    6. Ding, Lei & Hwang, Jackelyn & Divringi, Eileen, 2016. "Gentrification and residential mobility in Philadelphia," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 38-51.
    7. Swope, Carolyn B. & Hernández, Diana, 2019. "Housing as a determinant of health equity: A conceptual model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    8. Madden, Janice Fanning & Ruther, Matt, 2018. "The paradox of expanding ghettos and declining racial segregation in large U.S. metropolitan areas, 1970–2010," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 117-128.
    9. Gabriel Ahlfeldt, 2010. "Blessing or Curse? Appreciation, Amenities and Resistance around the Berlin "Mediaspree"," Working Papers 032, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    10. Ellen Reese & Geoffrey Deverteuil & Leanne Thach, 2010. "‘Weak‐Center’ Gentrification and the Contradictions of Containment: Deconcentrating Poverty in Downtown Los Angeles," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 310-327, June.
    11. Olaf Ernst & Brian Doucet, 2014. "A Window on the (Changing) Neighbourhood: The Role of Pubs in the Contested Spaces of Gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 189-205, April.
    12. Kate S. Shaw & Iris W. Hagemans, 2015. "‘Gentrification Without Displacement' and the Consequent Loss of Place: The Effects of Class Transition on Low-income Residents of Secure Housing in Gentrifying Areas," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 323-341, March.
    13. Boeing, Geoff, 2018. "The Effects of Inequality, Density, and Heterogeneous Residential Preferences on Urban Displacement and Metropolitan Structure: An Agent-Based Model," SocArXiv mkq7d, Center for Open Science.
    14. Boeing, Geoff, 2017. "Neighborhood Change, One Pint at a Time: The Impact of Local Characteristics on Craft Breweries," SocArXiv v88hh, Center for Open Science.
    15. Yasna Contreras & Thierry Lulle & Óscar Figueroa, 2017. "Cambios sociespaciales en las ciudades latinoamericanas: ¿procesos de gentrificación?," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, number 112, August.
    16. Wadu Mesthrige Jayantha & Esther Hiu Kwan Yung, 2018. "Effect of Revitalisation of Historic Buildings on Retail Shop Values in Urban Renewal: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Versey, H. Shellae, 2018. "A tale of two Harlems: Gentrification, social capital, and implications for aging in place," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 1-11.
    18. David J. Madden, 2014. "Neighborhood as Spatial Project: Making the Urban Order on the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 471-497, March.
    19. Michael Janoschka & Jorge Sequera & Luis Salinas, 2014. "Gentrification in Spain and Latin America — a Critical Dialogue," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1234-1265, July.
    20. Atuesta, Laura H. & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2019. "Housing appreciation patterns in low-income neighborhoods: Exploring gentrification in Chicago," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 35-47.
    21. Renee Gordon & Francis L. Collins & Robin Kearns, 2017. "‘It is the People that Have Made Glen Innes’: State-led Gentrification and the Reconfiguration of Urban Life in Auckland," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 767-785, September.
    22. Lei Ding & Jackelyn Hwang, 2016. "The Consequences of Gentrification: A Focus on Residents’ Financial Health in Philadelphia," Working Papers 16-22, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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