IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v8y2018i3p74-d167594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“They’re Not Building It for Us”: Displacement Pressure, Unwelcomeness, and Protesting Neighborhood Investment

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Danley

    (Rutgers-Camden University, Camden, NJ 08102, USA)

  • Rasheda Weaver

    (Iona College, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA)

Abstract

In some of Camden, NJ’s most underdeveloped neighborhoods, new investment is perceived as a catch-22. Such investment is badly needed, but residents fear gentrification and the creation of white spaces. Our study examines that puzzle, that residents protest badly needed investment, using ethnographic and interview data from residents and Camden, NJ, as a case study for examining community understanding of gentrification. In doing so, we draw upon gentrification literature that focuses on displacement pressure and exclusionary displacement, but argue that the Camden case points towards a different dimension of gentrification. Our findings show how (1) exclusion and “unwelcomeness” created by the development of white spaces is conceptualized by residents as being distinct from the impact such exclusion has on future displacement and (2) that residents internalize that exclusion from white spaces, dampening their support and increasing their resistance for new development. Our findings represent a contribution to the discussion on displacement pressure, which focuses primarily on exclusion through financial and economic pressure on residents, and shows that racialized exclusion is, itself, a fundamental element of residential fear of gentrification. We point to an opportunity to address fears of gentrification not only through economic means but also by focusing on issues of access and exclusion in urban space as a direct response to such residential fears.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Danley & Rasheda Weaver, 2018. "“They’re Not Building It for Us”: Displacement Pressure, Unwelcomeness, and Protesting Neighborhood Investment," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:8:y:2018:i:3:p:74-:d:167594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/74/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/74/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Tom Slater, 2006. "The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 737-757, December.
    3. Tom Slater, 2009. "Missing Marcuse: On gentrification and displacement," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2-3), pages 292-311, June.
    4. Chris Hamnett & Drew Whitelegg, 2007. "Loft Conversion and Gentrification in London: From Industrial to Postindustrial Land Use," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(1), pages 106-124, January.
    5. John Betancur, 2011. "Gentrification and Community Fabric in Chicago," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(2), pages 383-406, February.
    6. Loretta Lees, 2008. "Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2449-2470, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nathaniel Philip Pettit & Marijoan Bull, 2020. "Student Housing Choices and Neighborhood Change: Brown University 1937–1987," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-28, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tim Butler, 2007. "Re‐urbanizing London Docklands: Gentrification, Suburbanization or New Urbanism?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 759-781, December.
    2. Cardullo, Paolo, 2017. "Gentrification in the mesh? Ethnography of Open Wireless Network - Deptford," OSF Preprints jm68s, Center for Open Science.
    3. Mark Davidson, 2008. "Spoiled Mixture: Where Does State-led `Positive' Gentrification End?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2385-2405, November.
    4. Iago Lestegás & João Seixas & Rubén-Camilo Lois-González, 2019. "Commodifying Lisbon: A Study on the Spatial Concentration of Short-Term Rentals," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Rosemary D.F. Bromley & Peter K. Mackie, 2009. "Displacement and the New Spaces for Informal Trade in the Latin American City Centre," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1485-1506, June.
    6. Mark Davidson, 2011. "Critical Commentary. Gentrification in Crisis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(10), pages 1987-1996, August.
    7. Kath Hulse & Margaret Reynolds, 2018. "Investification: Financialisation of housing markets and persistence of suburban socio-economic disadvantage," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(8), pages 1655-1671, June.
    8. Agustin Cocola-Gant & Ana Gago, 2021. "Airbnb, buy-to-let investment and tourism-driven displacement: A case study in Lisbon," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(7), pages 1671-1688, October.
    9. repec:bla:ijurrs:v:38:y:2014:i:4:p:1142-1159 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Emma Jackson & Tim Butler, 2015. "Revisiting ‘social tectonics’: The middle classes and social mix in gentrifying neighbourhoods," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(13), pages 2349-2365, October.
    11. Megan Nethercote, 2017. "When Social Infrastructure Deficits Create Displacement Pressures: Inner City Schools and the Suburbanization of Families in Melbourne," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 443-463, May.
    12. Brian Doucet & Daphne Koenders, 2018. "‘At least it’s not a ghetto anymore’: Experiencing gentrification and ‘false choice urbanism’ in Rotterdam’s Afrikaanderwijk," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(16), pages 3631-3649, December.
    13. Trina Hamilton & Winifred Curran, 2013. "From “Five Angry Women†to “Kick-ass Community†: Gentrification and Environmental Activism in Brooklyn and Beyond," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(8), pages 1557-1574, June.
    14. Nadine Marquardt & Henning Füller & Georg Glasze & Robert Pütz, 2013. "Shaping the Urban Renaissance: New-build Luxury Developments in Berlin," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(8), pages 1540-1556, June.
    15. Benjamin Preis & Aarthi Janakiraman & Alex Bob & Justin Steil, 2021. "Mapping gentrification and displacement pressure: An exploration of four distinct methodologies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(2), pages 405-424, February.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Cuz Potter & Danielle Labbé, 2021. "Gentrification or …? Injustice in large-scale residential projects in Hanoi," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2456-2472, September.
    20. Charlotte Lemanski, 2014. "Hybrid gentrification in South Africa: Theorising across southern and northern cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(14), pages 2943-2960, November.
    21. Lisa Freeman, 2017. "Governed Through Ghost Jurisdictions: Municipal Law, Inner Suburbs and Rooming Houses," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 298-317, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:8:y:2018:i:3:p:74-:d:167594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.