Claiming the City: A Critical Geography of Schools, Gentrification, and Resistance to Displacement Amidst Residential Rezoning

• In Event: (Re)Claiming Cities and Schools: Gentrification, School Closures, and Access to Opportunity

Abstract

U.S. metropolitan areas are experiencing racial and class demographic change embedded in histories of racial capitalism. In response to these systems, people have “made place,” including in their schools. Public policy also shapes place. This case study investigates one instance of this dynamic: Seattle’s current zoning update will determine residential zoning for the next twenty years, with implications for equity in a gentrifying city. Using a critical spatial and politics of education lens, I investigate the intersection of schools and the rezoning plan. I analyze policy documents, public comments, zoning meetings, and interviews with school leaders, staff, community organizers, and parents to understand how zoning, demographic change, and gentrification shape schools and people connected to gentrifying schools make place.

Author

• Hailey Karcher, Seattle Public Schools