Gentrification based on 'taste'

      While displacement and gentrification are generally found in poor urban communities (read: minorities) in America, the issue is not exclusive to America, nor does it always manifest in the same way. Just recently, reports have been coming out of the United Kingdom about gentrification and issues with 'foreigners' and their establishments. (Xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments in Britain? It can't be!)
      Hashtag sarcasm.

     Several news sources, including al-Jazeera in particular, released articles highlighting the issue of gentrification of poor urban ethnic enclaves-specifically Chinatown (with those populated by Indian and Thai persons affected as well.) An interesting cultural difference from America was cited as the precipitant of the process-the amount of appreciation of 'ethnic food.'

      Britons are apparently not willing to pas as much for ethnic food like Chinese food, Indian food, and Ethiopian food as they are for 'European' food. This leaves the market for 'ethnic' food much limited, almost to say restricted, based on the tastes of 'native Britons' whom are likely historically to have accumulated more expendable wealth and income for restaurant dining. Ethnic minorities, having less wealth, may not have the capital to sustain their local market. We discussed in class that because of close ties in immigrant communities, they are actually 'safer' as they will make reports to police more often, look out for one another, and actually -talk- to others, This will not save their residents from displacement, however, if their communities sit on prime real estate to wealthy investors.

Findings about gentrification in America show that they may also be somewhat based on 'taste,' though of a different kind.  In an article about the effects of gentrification in seven American cities, this was said about Chicago, saying that communities of Roseland have not (yet?) been targeted by gentrifying forces.

A study by Harvard researchers Robert Sampson and Jackelyn Hwang. Sampson refers to this phenomenon as "'white avoidance' — [gentrifiers are] not moving into neighborhoods where there are lots of black people."

"In Chicago," he said, "the [neighborhoods] that are gentrifying are the ones where there was a white working class, or Latinos, but not many blacks."

The following image supports this theory, saying that where crime and poverty occur, often in congruence with minority population, gentrifying factors may even be in the negative.

Ultimately, only time will tell if gentrification and neighborhood tipping ever become bi-directional.


For information about gentrification in 7 American cities:
http://mic.com/articles/102004/these-7-cities-expose-exactly-what-gentrification-is-doing-to-america

Gentrification in Chinatown in the UK-"Gentrification is Ripping the Heart Out of Communities:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/29/jay-rayner-london-chinatown-restaurants-gentrification