Between Gentrification and Supergentrification: The Shifting Landscape of Affluence in Brooklyn, NY

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Gentrification Today

Abstract

The expansion of affluence and the financialization of real estate in the 21st century have altered socio-spatial inequality in urban landscapes (Aalbers 2018, Hay 2013, Lees 2003). This paper examines the impact of these developments on Brooklyn, New York’s largest borough. As Brooklyn transformed into a globally recognized brand of urban redevelopment, it attracted a rapidly growing class of wealthy residents, investors, and developers. This socio-economic shift has resulted in the dispersion of affluence as well as new forms of socio-spatial upscaling in unexpected areas. Using U.S. Census and American Community Survey data complemented by qualitative observation, this study uncovers emerging forms of socio-economic change that challenge our understanding of supergentrification, which is understood as the further upscaling of substantially gentrified areas by upper-income households. Various forms of socio-economic change are mapped across Brooklyn’s neighborhoods to illustrate the geographic dimensions of the shifting urban landscape. Demographic features of tracts undergoing different trajectories of socio-economic change since 2000 are analyzed to further differentiate various types of upscaling and decline.

Author

• Judith R. Halasz, SUNY-New Paltz