This paper examines four selected consequences of private market revitalization in 12 neighborhoods in six US cities. The analysis reveals that the physical quality of properties has been improved significantly, property assessments have increased substantially, and the investment in the properties by newcomers to the neighborhoods has encouraged original owners to improve their properties in one-third of the neighborhoods studied. However, the increase in assessed values generally has lagged far behind increases in the market value of the properties. Reinvestment also appears to have generated negative consequences. Many of the renters living in the neighborhoods prior to the start of reinvestment, many of whom had a low socioeconomic status, may have been displaced. In addition, the assessed value of properties owned by persons living in the neighborhoods prior to revitalization and not improved during revitalization increased as a result of the changes occurring in the neighborhoods. The percentage increase in the assessed value of these properties was not significantly less than the increase for properties improved by newcomers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Berry, B. (1980). Inner City Futures: An American Dilemma Revisited . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. N.S. 5: 1-28.
2.
Bixhorn, H. (1979). A Stages Model of Neighborhood Change, Paper presented at American Statistical Association Conference , Government of the District of Columbia, Office of Planning and Development, Statistics and Data Management Division.
3.
Bradley, D.S. (1978) Back to the City?, Atlanta Economic Review, March-April; 15-21.
4.
Clay, P.L. (1979) Neighborhood Renewal, Middle Class Resettlement, and Incumbent Upgrading in American Neighborhoods, Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.
5.
Cozzens, W. and Bauer, J. (1981). Market Generated Displacement: Single City Case Study, Prepared by National Institute for Advanced Studies for Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD. (Draft Report).
6.
Cybriwsky, R.A. and Meyer, J.T. (1977). Geographical Aspects of the Housing Market in a Rejuvenating Neighborhood, Papers in Geography, No. 16, December 1977, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania.
7.
Degiovanni, F.F. (1982). Patterns of Change in Housing Market Activity in Revitalizing Neighborhoods, Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 49: 22-39.
8.
Degiovanni, F.F., Connelly, M.D., Joyner, B.R. and Paulson, N.A. (1981). Private Market Revitalization: Its Characteristics and Consequences, Prepared by Research Triangle Institute for the Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD. (Draft Report).
9.
Gale, D.E. (1976). Back-to-the City Movement ... Or Is It? A Survey of Recent Homebuyers in the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood of Washington, DC . Washington, DC: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, George Washington University.
10.
Gale, D.E. (1977). The Back-to-the City Movement Revisited: A Survey of Recent Homebuyers in the Capital Hill Neighborhood of Washington, DC. Occasional Paper Series. Washington, DC: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, George Washington University.
11.
Gale, D.E. (1979). Middle Class Resettlement in Older Urban Neighborhoods: The Evidence and Implications, Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 45: 293-304.
12.
Gale, D.E. (1980). Neighborhood Resettlement: Washington, DC, in S. Laska and D. Spain (eds) Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation . New York: Pergamon.
13.
Grier, G. and Grier, E. (1978). Urban Displacement: A Reconnaissance, Report prepared for theUS Department of Housing and Urban Development .
14.
Hartman, C. (1979a). Displacement: A Not So New Problem. Social Policy, Vol. 9: 22-27.
15.
Hartman, C. (1979b). Comment on Neighborhood Revitalization and Displacement: A Review of the Evidence, Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 45: 488-490.
16.
Henig, J.R. (1980). Gentrification and Displacement within Cities: A Comparative Analysis, Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 61: 638-653.
17.
Hodge, D. (1981). Residential Revitalization and Displacement in a Growth Region, Geographical Review, Vol. 71: 188-200.
18.
James, F.J. (1977a). Private Reinvestment in Older Housing and Older Neighborhoods: Recent Trends and Forces. Statement before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the United States Senate .
19.
James, F.J. (1977b). Back to the City: Case Studies of Private Neighborhood Revitalization in Eight Major Metropolitan Areas. Working paper 0241-02. The Urban Institute, Washington, DC.
20.
Kern, C.R. (1981). Upper-Income Renaissance in the City: Its Sources and Implications for the City's Future, Journal of Urban Economics , Vol. 9: 106-124.
21.
Kotler, M. (1980). Is Residential Displacement a Critical Urban Problem?Pro. Urban Concerns: 31-54.
22.
Laska, S.B., Seaman, and McSeveney, D.R. (1982). Inner City Reinvestment: Neighborhood Characteristics and Spatial Patterns Over Time, Urban Studies, Vol. 19: 155-165.
23.
Laska, S. and Spain, D. eds. (1980a). Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation, New York: Pergamon Press .
24.
Laska, S. and Spain, D. (1980b). Anticipating Renovators' Demands: New Orleans , in S. Laska and D. Spain (eds.) Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation. New York: Pergamon Press.
25.
Le Gates, R. and Hartman, C. (1981). Displacement, Berkeley, Ca .: Legal Services Anti-Displacement Project.
26.
Lipton, G. (1980). Evidence of Central City Renewal, in Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation, S. Laska and D. Spain, eds. New York: Pergamon Press.
27.
London, B. (1980). Gentrification as Urban Reinvasion: Some Preliminary Definitional and Theoretical Considerations, in Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Renovation, S. Laska and D. Spain, eds. New York: Pergamon Press.
28.
Long, L.H. and Dahmann, D.C. (1980). The City-Suburb Income Gap: Is It Being Narrowed by a Back-to-the-City Movement? Special Demographic Analyses, CDS-80-1, March 1980, Bureau of the Census, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
29.
Mcwilliams, S.W. (1975). Recycling a Declining Community: Middle Class Migration to Virginia Highlands. Unpublished Thesis, Georgia State University.
30.
Mykletun, S.N. (1975). Revitalization of St. Paul's Historic Ramsey Hill Neighborhood: The Adoption of a Housing Style. Unpublished Thesis, University of Minnesota.
31.
National Association Of Neighborhoods, (1980 ). Unpublished Mimeo. Washington, DC.
32.
National Urban Coalition. (1978). Displacement: City Neighborhoods in Transition. National Urban Coalition, Washington, DC, 1978.
33.
National Urban Coalition, (1980). Neighborhood Transition without Displacement: Citizen's Handbook. National Urban Coalition, Washington, DC , 1980.
34.
O'Laughlin, J. and Munski, D.C. (1979). Housing Rehabilitation in the Inner City: A Comparison of Two Neighborhoods in New Orleans. Economic Geography, Vol. 55: 52-71.
35.
Palen, J.J. and Nachmias, C. (1981). Newcomers and Oldtimers in a Revitalizing Working-Class Neighborhood. Occasional Papers, University of New Orleans , Number 3.
36.
Pattison, T.J. (1977). The Process of Neighborhood Upgrading and Gentrification: An Examination of Two Neighborhoods in the Boston Metropolitan Area, Unpublished Thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
37.
Seattle Office Of Policy Planning, (1979). Seattle Displacement Study, Seattle, Washington Office of Policy Planning, City of Seattle.
38.
Smith, N. (1979). Toward a Theory of Gentrification: A Back to the City Movement by Capital not People, Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 45: 538-548.
39.
Spain, D. (1980a). Black-to-White Successions in Central City Housing: Limited Evidence of Urban Revitalization, Urban Affairs Quarterly , Vol. 15: 381-396.
40.
Spain, D. (1980b). Reasons for Intermetropolitan Mobility: Are Schools a Key Issue?, Review of Public Data Use, Vol. 8: 59-68.
41.
Spain, D. and Laska, S. (1980). Fad or Urban Residential Commitment in New Orleans?: Renovators Two Years Later. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Toronto, Canada.
42.
Spain, D., Reid, J. amd Long, L. (1980). Housing Successions Among Blacks and Whites in Cities and Suburbs, Current Population Reports, Series P-23 No. 101 Bureau of the Census, US Department of Commerce: Washington, DC.
43.
Sumka, H. (1980). Is Residential Displacement a Critical Urban Problem?Con. Urban Concerns, 31-54.
44.
Sumka, H.J. and Cincin-Spain, B. (1979). Displacement in Revitalizing Neighborhoods: A Review and Research Strategy, Occasional Papers in Housing and Community Affairs, Volume 2. Washington, DC.Office of Policy Development and Research , US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
45.
United States Department Of Housing And Urban Development (1979). Displacement Report, Washington, DC: Office of Policy Development and Reseach.
46.
United States Department Of Housing And Urban Development, (1981). Residential Displacement - An Update. Washington, DC: Office of Policy Development and Research .
47.
Urban Consortium (1977). The Displacement Problem in Revitalized Urban Neighborhoods. Draft paper of the Community and Economic Development Task Force, Urban Consortium .
48.
Zeitz, E. (1979). Private Renewal: A Different Residential Trend , Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books .
