Published In
Engaged Scholar Journal: Community Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2019
Subjects
Urban Renewal, Community and Participation Theory, Policy and Practice
Abstract
Gentrification is changing the landscape of many American cities. As land values rise, people may lose their homes, neighbors, and sites of significance, along with their sense of place, community, and history. There is a critical need to build and preserve affordable housing, yet housing alone will not address the more than material losses. What role can the arts play in sustaining place attachments, restoring relationships, and building place knowledge in gentrifying neighborhoods? This paper explores this question through a systematic review of current research. We identify four prominent alternative interventions in gentrifying neighborhoods—creative placemaking, public pedagogy, community organizing, and public science—and explicate strengths and limitations of each approach. We find the strongest interventions bridge approaches—engaging artists as/and researchers, educators, and community leaders—and mobilize residents as participants in knowledge/cultural production. We note that initiatives that provide short-term benefit may simultaneously make the neighborhood more desirable—and thus more vulnerable to gentrification—in the longer-term. Finally, given the dearth of research in this area, we conclude with recommendations for future research that attends to issues of equity, process as well as outcome, and longitudinal effects of more than material interventions in gentrifying neighborhoods.
DOI
10.15402/esj.v5i2.68338
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/28955
Description
Originally published in Engaged Scholar Journal, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).