Gentrification and Neighborhood Change: Who Goes, Who Stays, and How Long-Term Residents Cope

Author: Jennifer Pashup

Dissertation School: University of Chicago

Abstract:
This project explores the process of neighborhood change/stability. I am interested in how dramatic changes in the neighborhood environment are perceived and reacted to by local residents. I will investigate how position in the life course, as determined by age, family status, child-rearing stage, home ownership, wealth and labor force participation, may be differentially associated with how people process changes in their local environment. Drawing on an original set of intensive personal interviews in two Chicago neighborhoods, this work will address several theoretical concerns. First, how do local residents perceive and react to radical changes in the neighborhood environment? This work is especially interested in how the elderly and renters are affected by dramatic changes in the housing market and local neighborhood environment. Second, are reactions at all patterned, that is, are they correlated with any of the aforementioned factors? Third, who leaves an area that is changing and how do they cope? In neighborhood studies, those who have recently left an area are often over-looked, even though their actions and experiences are integral to the process of neighborhood change. Lastly, a stable neighborhood will also be included in the study for comparative purposes.

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