Gentrification and the Role of Community Organizations in Preventing African-American Displacement

Author: Susan E. Baer

Dissertation School: University of Maryland at College Park

Pages: 321

Publication Date: January 1998

Availability:
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Access Number: 10729

Abstract:

This dissertation examines gentrification and why the level of African-American displacement varies across 63 highly populated U.S. cities during the 1980 to 1990 time period utilizing a multivariate analysis and a case study of two cities, Buffalo and Cincinnati. Contrary to my hypothesis, my findings show that community organizational umbrella structure is not negatively related to the level of African-American displacement in a statistically significant manner. But the multivariate analysis did reveal two significant findings. First, cities with corporate regimes, those whose businesses or developers play the most influential role in policymaking, are negatively related to African-American displacement levels. Second, cities with progressive regimes, those whose community organizations and groups concerned with minority and low-income residents play the most influential role in policymaking, are positively related to African-American displacement levels.

In a city such as Buffalo, no incentive to gentrify exists due to its severely economically distressed economy. And the existing literature, multivariate analysis, and case study findings show that a city's level of gentrification is positively related to its level of African-American displacement. Thus, cities with a no or least gentrification will also have least African-American displacement. These results reveal the existence of a minimum economic threshold below which economic rather than political variables make a difference in explaining the variation in African-American displacement across cities during 1980 to 1990. Therefore, we may categorize cities according to whether they are below or above this economic threshold. Buffalo is below this threshold. The progressive regime city of Cincinnati serves as an example of a second group of cities which is above this minimum economic threshold. It and similar cities have a strong enough economy to attract gentrifiers. Thus, gentrification and African-American displacement are possible in these cities. Whether these phenomena occur depends on the role of urban regime type and political variables related to urban regime type.

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