Need additional research assistance with your English 161 writing projects? Be sure to review the English 160 & 161: Introduction to Library Research Guide. The English 160 & 161 Research Guide covers the important aspects of starting the research process for your writing projects.
What is gentrification?
Gentrification is defined as the middle-class settlement in renovated or redeveloped properties in older, inner-city districts formerly occupied by a lower-income population. The process was first named by Ruth Glass, as she observed the arrival of the ‘gentry’ and the accompanying social transition of several districts in central London in the early 1960s. A decade later, broader recognition of gentrification followed in large cities such as London, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Toronto and Sydney undergoing occupational transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy. More on the topic of gentrification can be found in the Dictionary of Human Geography
UIC Resources
- Gentrification IndexUIC Voorhees Center Gentrification Index examines neighborhood change across Chicago from 1970 to 2010. It uses key indicators to measure how much a neighborhood's wealth or poverty has changed in this time.
- Gentrification & Neighborhood Change: Helpful Tools for CommunitiesThis toolkit presents strategies for addressing the pressures of gentrification in a community during
different phases of gentrification: before it happens, as it is happening, and after a neighborhood has been gentrified. It is possible to have development without displacement.
Resources
Questions
- What is the impact of gentrification?
- What is the positive impact of gentrification?
- What is the negative impact of gentrification?
- How does gentrification dismantle communities?
- What examples of gentrification exist at a local, state, national and international levels?
Building a Better Chicago: Race and Community Resistance to Urban Redevelopment by ISBN: 9781479872282Publication Date: 2021
- Company TownThe once free-spirited city of San Francisco is now a 'Company Town,' a playground for tech moguls of the 'sharing economy.' Airbnb is the biggest hotel, Uber privatizes transit. And now these companies want political power as well.
Meanwhile, middle class and ethnic communities are driven out by gentrification, skyrocketing rents and evictions, sparking a grassroots backlash. Can an insurgent electoral campaign overcome corporate power and billionaires' megabucks to change a city's course?
COMPANY TOWN shows how a grassroots coalition of unions, tenants, neighborhoods of color, activists and artists can come together to win. - Now We Live on CliftonNow We Live on Clifton follows 10 year old Pam Taylor and her 12 year old brother Scott around their multiracial West Lincoln Park neighborhood. The kids worry that they'll be forced out of the neighborhood they grew up in by the gentrification following the expansion of DePaul University.
- The Lost VillageThe Lost Village is a devastating expose of how Greenwich Village, the epicenter of the counterculture in the 1960s and '70s, is being turned into a wasteland of chain stores, banks and multi-million dollar condos.
This award-winning documentary follows filmmaker Roger Paradiso on a journey through today's Village as he tries to figure out how this 'gentrification on steroids' got started. Talking to journalists, activists, shop-owners, professors and more, he uncovers how the landlords, politicians and NYU turned the Village into a place that is losing its heart and soul. - One Big HomeGentrification comes in many forms. On the tiny island of Martha's Vineyard, where presidents and celebrities vacation, trophy homes threaten to destroy the island's unique character.
Twelve years in the making, ONE BIG HOME follows one carpenter's journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When he feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, Thomas Bena takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera. Bumping up against angry homeowners and builders who look the other way, he works with his community and attempts to pass a new bylaw to limit house size.
Understanding Sources
It is important to understand the different types of sources you can use for your research. Each source can serve a different purpose and can provide a different prospective as it relates to your topic.
Below are three sources. Take 5-7 minutes to quickly scan each source. Questions to to answer:
- If you could summarize each source with 3-4 words, what words would they be?
- What type of source is each source?
- What differences do you notice between each source?
| Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3 |
| Planetary Gentrification | Airbnb and the rent gap: Gentrification through the sharing economy |
Please add your responses to the following link:
Understanding Sources Jamboard
Library Session Evaluation
Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
Still have questions about the research process? You can contact me for a consultation. Consultations can take place via email, in-person (by appointment) or via Zoom (by appointment). Email me at jmjacksn@uic.edu
What if I need help developing my research topic?
- Make an appointment with a librarianSchedule a one-on-one research consultation with a librarian for assistance with your research, to learn advanced skills or to identify sources in a specific subject area
- Make an appointment at the Writing CenterThe Writing Center helps students with course assignments, personal statements, resumes -- you name it. All of us benefit from individual attention to our writing, whether we are getting started or adding finishing touches. The Writing Center helps with writer's block, assignment prompts, brainstorming, organization, making connections with readings, word choice, and sentence revision.