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The goal of Cityscape is to bring high-quality original research on housing and community development issues to scholars, government officials, and practitioners. Cityscape is open to all relevant disciplines, including architecture, consumer research, demography, economics, engineering, ethnography, finance, geography, law, planning, political science, public policy, regional science, sociology, statistics, and urban studies.

Cityscape is published three times a year by the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


 
  • Gentrification
  • Volume 18, Number 3
  • Managing Editor: Mark D. Shroder
  • Associate Editor: Michelle P. Matuga
 

Commentary: Causes and Consequences of Gentrification and the Future of Equitable Development Policy

Derek Hyra
American University



In American cities, gentrification—that is, an influx of upper-income people to low-income areas— became much more pervasive in the 2000s compared with the 1990s (Freeman and Cai, 2015; Maciag, 2015; Owens, 2012). This article critiques and adds to this timely Cityscape symposium on the causes, consequences, and needed policy responses associated with the contemporary community change wave sweeping across much of urban America. I argue that gentrification’s causes and consequences are complex and multilayered. I conclude with a few remaining research puzzles and policy proscriptions to facilitate equitable gentrification, ensuring low- and moderate-income people receive maximum benefit from the revitalization of their neighborhoods.


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