U.S. suburbanization and gentrification

1. U.S. suburbanization and gentrification Soc 331 Population and Society 07.15.2009

2. Factors that influence urban development • Technology • Transportation, building construction, communication • Organizational network of the community • Realtors, government, citizen associations • Resource availability • Energy (fuel), land supply, income levels • Population growth • Individual values (U.S. desire for single family homes) • Institutional structure of society • U.S. Capitalist System vs. kinship or familial systems

3. Role of transportation • Walking (pre-1880s); 2-3 mph • Face to face communication, small but high density, little separation between home and work • Electric Street Car (1880-1920); 10-15 mph • Speeds up travel and focuses activity toward city center, some activities begin to disperse • Automobile (1920-present); 25-40+ mph • Lower density, “multiple nuclei” • Social class theory

4. Where have all the street cars gone? • Increased transportation adds an element of geographic flexibility • The process of suburbanization was sped along by the removal of streetcars in favor of automobiles • Automobile manufacturers and tire companies bought local trail lines, dismantled them and replaced them with gasoline powered buses

5. Seattle street car

6. The rise of the automobile and demise of public transit • By 1990 in the U.S. 73% of all workers got to work by driving in their automobile while an additional 13% carpooled • More people walked to work (6%) than took public transportation (5%) (1990 Census)

7. An accounting of Suburbanization • Thought of as relatively new • 1899 - Adna Weber noted than American cities were beginning to suburbanize • Really took off in the 1920s • Until 1960s continued unabated • American desire for less dense space • Ability to obtain that space • Increasing wealth • Availability of automobile/highway transit

8. Trends in U.S. suburbanization • Westward expansion • Karsada (1995) - in 1960 25% of all Fortune 500 firms were located in NYC, in 1990 it declined to 8% • Moving to sunbelt cities and not to city centers • Near to highways and regional airports • More people now commute from suburb to suburb than commute to the city center • Edge cities • Center city deterioration?

9. A sign of the times?

10. Explaining Suburbanization • Natural Evolution Theory (“Pull”) • “Natural” working of housing market • Preference for large single-family lots • Decentralization of the city is followed by employment decentralization (serves to reinforce suburbanization process) • Can have deleterious implications for city residents • Fiscal/Social Problems of Central Cities (“Push”) • High taxes, poor quality schools, racial tension, crime, congestion cause affluent to migrate which leads to further deterioration

11. Gentrification • Influx of businesses and individuals with generally higher SES settling in a an area with relatively lower SES • Some add “displacement” to the definition - Also elements of “improvement” • Baby boom generation grew up in the suburbs to a greater extent than any previous cohort • Began to purchase and renovate cheap housing in older parts of central cities • White and upwardly mobile so linked to the gentry moving back to the city

12. Impacts of gentrification • Shift of rental property to owned housing • Increase in existing rents • Decrease in integration • “Urban revitalization” • Shifting populations • Neighborhood turnover

13. Explanations (London, Lee & Lipton 1986) • Demographics • Baby Boom • Childless couples (less space and more income) • Ecological • Industry replaced by corporation • Socio-cultural • “pro-urban”, “urbanicity” is hip • Political/Economical • Increase in transit, desegregation, market interaction