The Misunderstood History of Gentrification
People, Planning, Preservation, and Urban Renewal, 1915-2020

PB: $32.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-2043-5
Publication: Feb 21
HC: $104.50
EAN: 978-1-4399-2042-8
Publication: Feb 21
Ebook: $32.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-2044-2
Publication: Feb 21
254 pages
6 x 9
4 tables, 16 halftones, 3 maps
Reframing our understanding of the roles of gentrification and urban renewal in the revitalization of American cities
Read the Introduction (pdf).Description
The origins of gentrification date back to World War I—only it was sometimes known as “remodeling” then. Dennis Gale’s insightful book, The Misunderstood History of Gentrification, provides a recontextualization of American gentrification, planning, and policymaking. He argues that gentrification must be understood as an urban phenomenon with historical roots in the very early twentieth century.
Gale uses solid empirical evidence to trace the embryonic revitalization of Georgetown, Greenwich Village, Beacon Hill, and elsewhere back to 1915. He shows how reinvestment and restoration reversed urban decline and revitalized neighborhoods. The Misunderstood History of Gentrification also explains how federal policies such as the Urban Redevelopment Program (later named Urban Renewal), which first emerged in 1949, razed urban slums and created an “urban crisis” that persisted in the 1960s and ‘70s. This situation soon prompted city gentrifiers and historic preservationists to reuse and rehabilitate existing structures.
Within a more expansive historical framework, Gale offers a fresh perspective on and debunks misperceptions about gentrification in America.
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments I Embryonic Gentrification: Case Studies and Examples II Urban Redevelopment/Renewal Contends with the Gentrification Paradigm, 1945–1980 III Dilemmas in Definition and Dialectics
Introduction
2. The Greenwich Village Neighborhood of New York City, 1915–1945
3. The Beacon Hill Neighborhood of Boston, 1915–1945
4. Early Embryonic Gentrification: An Atlantic and Gulf Coast
Phenomenon
6. The Decade of the Neighborhood and the “Discovery” of Gentrification
Conclusion
References
Index
About the Author(s)
Subjects
In the Series
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Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy edited by David Stradling, Larry Bennett, and Davarian Baldwin
The Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy Series, edited by David Stradling, Larry Bennett, and Davarian Baldwin, was founded by the late Zane L. Miller to publish books that examine past and contemporary cities. While preserving the series’ foundational focus on the policy, planning, and environmental issues so central to metropolitan life, we also join scholarly efforts to push the boundaries of urban studies. We are committed to publishing work at the shifting intersections of cultural production, community formation, and political economy that shape cities at all scales, from the neighborhood to the transnational.