From a macroscopic view, gentrification may be seen in a positive light as it aims to improve areas in an effort to appeal to middle-class taste. Otherwise poor and what one would consider “blighted” neighborhoods transition into clean, livable spaces which encompass everything that characterizes a “nice” area with the introduction of things like organic coffee shops and community gardens. However, beneath these seemingly harmless improvements lies the ugly truth that current residents of these “run-down” neighborhoods, usually racial minorities, are slowly forced out of their homes because they can no longer afford to live in what used to be considered the “slums”. Although gentrification in areas heavily populated by racial minorities such …show more content…
This, in turn leads to the displacement of many, if not all, pre-existing low-income residents once they can no longer afford to live in the slums that they used to call home (Bridge, 2011). Race plays a major role in gentrification. This is made evident by simply observing gentrified areas. Areas which are infiltrated by white residents are typically predominantly made up of low-income racial minorities. Once more affluent, often white people are intrigued by the fads of contemporary upgrades and additions to these neighborhoods, …show more content…
This idea of social mixing aims to improve conditions for low-income residents through promoting balanced, heterogeneous communities which enriches the lives of residents and promotes tolerance of social differences while offering educational and work role models through programs like the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPEVI program of poverty deconcentration of 1992 (Bridge, 2011). Although the idea of promoting a diverse range of backgrounds in low-income communities may seem like a good way to prevent further deterioration in these communities, the process is one-sided on the government’s end, which is where the theory of political economy can come into play, since social mixing is not advocated in wealthy neighborhoods that may be equally as socially homogenous as the low-income communities where social mix is achieved through promoting the heterogeneous remedy. Middle-class residents are invited into economically and socially challenged neighborhoods to “save” them from permanent decline, however, eventually this type of mixing ends up driving the pre-existing, often racial minority residents out because of raised costs of living, officially