Uncovering invisibilities in gentrification processes

This chapter considers an often-invisible and understudied phenomenon - gentrification in suburban, migrant neighborhoods of growing Sunbelt cities. The physical restructuring of migrant neighborhoods is producing an increase in the cost of living and of operating businesses, and the spatial dispersion of migrant settlement. This chapter examines these patterns through mixed methods research in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Washington, DC. The non-traditional settlement patterns of migrants, their displacement coping strategies, and modes of everyday resistance tend to make them invisible in gentrification research and urban development policies. Yet, greater attention to cultural shifts and collective efforts to build community and resist gentrification demonstrate the dynamism of migrants’ city-building experiences. I seek to make visible the complex experiences, tensions, and injustices occurring in migrant communities while arguing that new research and policy approaches are needed to create (and imagine) a city that better supports and values migrant communities in inner suburban landscapes.