The concept of gentrification was first introduced by Ruth Glass in 1964 to describe an urban phenomenon of upgrading of old property but also displacing the existing population, mostly lower class urban citizens. During this process of urban evolution, an upward transformation of the socio-economic structure of the neighborhood occurs (Ruth, 1964; Smith, 1979). Since the first introduction of the phenomenon in 1964, the concept of gentrification in research has become more dynamic and complex. In addition, many scholars and social scientists have provided their view on gentrification and written about the complexity of the phenomenon, as well as the frequent occurrence of gentrification in many cities all over the world.
Since the first introduction of the term “gentrification,” the phenomenon has become a source of debate among scholars and policy makers, particularly in the Global North – US and Europe (Atkinson, 2003, 2004; Cox, 1993; Davidson, 2007). Although most scholars have viewed gentrification as an unfortunate consequence produced by capitalism and our current trend of neoliberal urbanism (Smith, 2002), some have viewed gentrification as a natural urban morphology (Brueckner and Rosenthal, 2009) and others have viewed it as a beneficial urban process that will return some
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To ensure the intrinsic benefits that gentrification can provide to the poor, displacement must not occur in the first place. However, globalization and neoliberal urbanism have so far primarily served economic and political hegemony; thus, it is reasonable to believe that the poor will be priced out before they have the chance to appreciate the benefits from