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Gentrification of Atlanta's inner-city neighborhoods began in the 1970s, and it has continued, at varying levels of intensity, into the present. Many factors have contributed to the city's gentrification. A major increase in gentrification that occurred in the last years of the 20th century has been attributed to the 1996 Summer Olympics. However, during the 2000s, Atlanta underwent a profound transformation demographically, physically, and culturally. Suburbanization, rising prices, a booming economy, and new migrants decreased the city's black percentage from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010. [1] [2] From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city's black population decreased by 31,678. [3] [4] Much of the city's demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the three-mile radius surrounding Downtown Atlanta gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 holding at least a four-year degree, an increase of 61%. [5] [6] Between the mid-1990s and 2010, stimulated by funding from the HOPE VI program, Atlanta demolished nearly all of its public housing, a total of 17,000 units and about 10% of all housing units in the city. [7] [8] [9] In 2005, the $2.8 billion BeltLine project was adopted, with the stated goals of converting a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and increasing the city's park space by 40%. [10] Lastly, Atlanta's cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the High Museum of Art doubled in size; the Alliance Theatre won a Tony Award; and numerous art galleries were established on the once-industrial Westside. [11]
Atlanta is also experiencing the national trend of young people moving back into cities. Metro Atlanta is also one of the fastest-growing areas in the country in terms of both population and job growth and expected to grow by another 3 million between now and 2040. That makes intown areas attractive for those working intown, and much land is still available in some neighborhoods. [12] [13] In 2019, Atlanta was named the fourth fastest gentrifying city in the United States. [14]
Since 2010, corporate investors have served as a major catalyst for gentrification in Atlanta. Atlanta has one of the most appealing real estate markets in the nation which attracts corporate investors from around the world. [15] [16] [17] Over 40% of single-family homes in the Atlanta area were bought by corporate investors in third quarter 2021. Atlanta's mayor, Andre Dickens, proposed regulations in an attempt to limit the number of homes corporate investors can buy because their buying power could put the average resident at a disadvantage in negotiating to own property. Also Mayor Dickens committed to adding and maintaining at least 20,000 affordable housing units by 2026. [18] [19] [20]
In 2022, Atlanta metro area homes were declared unaffordable for the average buyer by the Federal Reserve Bank. The 2022 median home price in the Atlanta metro area was $350,000 and the median resident annual household income was $73,000 which means becoming a home owner may be challenging for a large percentage of the population. Since the revitalization boom, African-Americans have been the fastest declining demographic within Atlanta's city limits but the fastest growing in most of Atlanta's surrounding suburbs. [21] [22] Decent standard home selling for under $250,000 inside the Perimeter were in abundance in 2012 but has become a less common occurrence as of 2022. [23] [24] [25] The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta went up from $799 in 2012 to $1,710 in 2022 which resulted in some renters leaving the city seeking a more affordable cost of living. [26] And despite efforts by majority of the Atlanta City Council in 2022, Atlanta landlords are not required to accept Section 8 housing vouchers due to overruling state laws that protect the right of choice for landlords. [27] Gentrification, the housing shortage, and inflation will likely continue to gradually increase housing costs and change demographics of the city, especially in neighborhoods in close proximity to downtown or the BeltLine. In 2022, Atlanta ranked only behind Phoenix for the highest inflation rate in the nation. [28]
Many of Atlanta's neighborhoods experienced massive white flight that affected other major American cities in the 20th century, causing the decline of once upper and upper-middle-class southeast Atlanta neighborhoods including Grant Park, Inman Park, Candler Park, Peoplestown and SummerHill. In the 1970s, after neighborhood opposition blocked two freeways from being built through the Southeast side, the area became the starting point for Atlanta's gentrification wave, first becoming affordable, hip but edgy neighborhoods attracting young people, and by 2000 having become relatively affluent areas attracting people from across Metro Atlanta to their upscale shops and restaurants. [29]
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, gentrification expanded into other parts of Atlanta, [30] spreading throughout the historic streetcar suburbs east of Downtown and Midtown, areas with black majorities historically such as the Old Fourth Ward, Kirkwood, Reynoldstown and Edgewood as well as Cabbagetown, once populated mostly by working-class whites with Appalachian origins. On the western side of the city, condos, apartments, and retail space were built into former warehouse spaces, transforming once-industrial West Midtown into a vibrant neighborhood full of residential lofts and a nexus of the arts, restaurants, and home furnishings. [ citation needed ].
The "poster child" for gentrification in Atlanta today is the Old Fourth Ward. Gentrification of the Ward began in the 1980s, and continued at a more rapid pace during the first decade of the 2000s. New apartment and condo complexes with ground-floor retail sprung up, particularly along the BeltLine, Ponce de Leon Avenue, North Avenue, and Highland Avenue. New residents were attracted to the neighborhood due to its close proximity to Downtown, Midtown, Inman Park, and Virginia-Highland, its urban vibe, its walkability, and its cultural offerings. By the 2010s, Old Fourth Ward had become one of the most dynamic and sought-after areas of the city, winning Creative Loafing's 2010 award for "Best Bet for Next Hot 'Hood". [31] The area, which remains majority black, has seen a huge influx of whites in recent decades. The trend began in the 1980s, and from 1980 to 2000, the area west of Boulevard went from 12% to 30% white and the area east of Boulevard went from 2% to 20% white.
In 2010, Creative Loafing awarded Old Fourth Ward "Best Bet for Next Hot 'Hood." [31] In 2011, the neighborhood celebrated the opening of the Historic Fourth Ward Park and saw the kickoff of the Ponce City Market project.
The far Northwest Atlanta is experiencing major pressure from neighboring Cobb County, Buckhead and Cascade Heights, to invest more into the gentrification of the following neighborhoods Riverside, Bolton, and Whittier Mill Village. The inner parts of Northwest Atlanta such as Knight Park, Berkeley Park and Howell Mill are almost completely gentrified, whereas Bankhead, Rockdale and other neighborhoods in the Northwest have begun gentrification.
Southwest Atlanta is the area between I-75 and I-20 along with the neighborhoods west of Summerhill. West End is the fastest gentrifying in the Southwest, with both downtown and the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Georgia's largest employer) putting pressure on this area. Southwest neighborhoods gentrifying at a high rate also include: Sylvan Hills, Capitol View, Capitol View Manor, Mechanicsville, Pittsburgh, Cascade Heights, Westview, Venetian Hills, Oakland City and Adair Park. Gentrification in the Southwest differs than the eastern side of Atlanta in that there is a larger number of higher income Black professionals and families helping gentrify the area. These neighborhoods had been majority-Black since white flight in the 1940s-1960s. They fell into steady decline, with Stewart Avenue becoming infamous for prostitution, crime and drugs. But by 2000, college-educated young white adults were buying homes in Southwest Atlanta in highly notable numbers, settling alongside many lifelong residents, attracted by intown status and the "charming affordable bungalows and community spirit". Higher interest by corporate investors to revitalize Southwest Atlanta soon followed, especially with the creation of the Beltline, revitalization of nearby downtown, and its proximity to the airport. [32]
South Atlanta is the part of Atlanta typically Southeast of I-75 and West of Moreland Avenue, South of Grant Park, including McDonough Blvd. Neighborhoods include: South Atlanta, Lakewood Heights, and High Point. These neighborhoods are showing early signs of gentrification with South Atlanta being the farthest along with some already unaffordable exclusive neighborhoods built along McDonough Blvd.
Nathan McCall in his novel Them, describes the concerns of existing working-class black residents in the Old Fourth Ward in light of increasing numbers of more affluent white families moving into their historically black neighborhood. [33] The Atlanta Progressive News regularly runs stories expressing concerns about the displacement of existing residents and the lack of "affordable" housing as a result of gentrification. [34] The gentrification of the city's neighborhoods has been the topic of social commentary, including The Atlanta Way , a documentary detailing the negative effects gentrification has had on the city and its inhabitants.
It is difficult to isolate one factor of gentrification, since they often feed others. A Georgia State student studied gentrification in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Atlanta (between Adair Park and Peoplestown) and came up with the following causes of displacement generally lead to gentrification. Some additional information is available from the Annie E. Casey foundation, again on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a good neighborhood for studying gentrification because like much of NPU-V, it is ground zero for what is expected to be the next wave with planners and researchers working hard to make sure displacement is not so rampant as in other parts of Atlanta. [35] [36]
With the understanding that gentrification is a likely inevitable force for the beltline area: the Anne E. Casey Foundation along with land banks, churches, community leaders, and other organizations are working to ensure that neighborhoods in the Southwest do not experience the same level of community displacement as in the Eastern parts of Atlanta. This involves efforts such as acquiring vacant homes to revitalize them and move in stable working-class citizens with restrictions on future sale price, workforce training, tax stabilization, and education on property values to avoid homeowners selling to flippers. [36]
Gentrification in Atlanta has improved or completely revitalized many neighborhoods that were dealing with high levels of crime, loitering, littering, squatters, inventory of abandoned homes, food deserts, lack of green spaces, low commercial investments, low neighborhood activism, low performing public schools, and stagnant or declining property values. Also, fast-growing tax revenue due to gentrification has greatly improved public city services such as the police department, fire department, sanitary department, parks, streets, cultural events, schools, and other services. For example, in 2023, Atlanta Public Schools (APS) was able to increase its budget up to $1.66 billion and its spend-per-student amount up to $22,692 which is about double the state and national public school average. In 2003, the APS spend-per-student amount was $13,290. [37] [38] [39]
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been used to describe a wide array of phenomena, usually in a pejorative connotation.
The Atlanta Beltline is a 22 miles (35 km) open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by infrastructure, improve transportation, add green space, promote redevelopment, create and preserve affordable housing, and showcase arts and culture. The project is in varying stages of development, with several mainline and spur trails complete. Since the passage of the More MARTA sales tax in 2016, construction of the light rail streetcar system is overseen by MARTA in close partnership with Atlanta Beltline, Inc.
West End is a historic neighborhood in the U.S. city of Atlanta, one of the oldest outside Downtown Atlanta, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. West End is located southwest of Castleberry Hill, east of Westview, west of Adair Park Historic District, and just north of Oakland City. Architectural styles within the neighborhood include Craftsman Bungalow, Queen Anne, Stick style, Folk Victorian, Colonial Revival, American Foursquare and Neoclassical Revival.
Reynoldstown is a historic district and intown neighborhood on the near east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located two miles from downtown. The neighborhood is gentrifying and attracting new families, empty-nesters, Atlantans opposed to long commutes; as well as diverse culture of first-time homebuyers, single professionals, artist and students due to its close proximity to other nearby intown neighborhoods, high walkability index, urban amenities and nearby bohemian hotspots on Carroll Street in the adjoined-at-the-hip also historic Cabbagetown neighborhood and in other surrounding communities.
Sylvan Hills is a historic intown neighborhood in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site.
Capitol View is a historic intown southwest Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood. The neighborhood is 2.5 miles from downtown and was named for its views of the Georgia State Capitol building. Its boundaries include Metropolitan Parkway to the east, Lee Street to the west, and the Beltline to the north. On the south, the border follows Arden Street, Deckner Avenue, and Perkerson Park.
Adair Park is a historic residential neighborhood located southwest of downtown Atlanta. It has the form of a left curly bracket, bordered by the MARTA north–south rail line on the northwest, the BeltLine trail on the southwest and Metropolitan Parkway on the east. Historically Adair Park also included the area from Metropolitan Parkway to McDaniel Street on the east, but the city now considers that area part of the Pittsburgh neighborhood.
Boulevard is a street in and, as a corridor, a subdistrict, of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The street runs east of, and parallel to, Atlanta's Downtown Connector. It begins at Ponce de Leon Avenue in the north, passing through the Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and Grant Park, and forming the border between Chosewood Park on the west and Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park to the east. It ends at McDonough Boulevard in the south, at the Federal Penitentiary.
Gentrification is the controversial process of affluent people moving into a historically low-income neighborhood. It is often criticized because the current residents have limited options to buy or rent equivalent housing in alternative areas at the same price. If they stay, prices for products, services, and taxes rise and existing social networks are disturbed. Gentrification is a reversal of the process of urban decay and white flight seen in most American cities during the 20th century, where residents voluntarily moved away as urban neighborhoods declined.
Pittsburgh is a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1883 as a Black working-class suburb alongside the Pegram rail shops. It was named Pittsburgh because the industrial area reminded one of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and its famous steel mills. Pittsburgh is a working class and developing neighborhood, and as property values rise in Intown Atlanta neighborhoods, many see possibility that this trend will spread to Pittsburgh while bringing renewal for legacy residents.
Peoplestown is a neighborhood of Atlanta just south of Center Parc Stadium and Downtown Atlanta.
English Avenue and Vine City are two adjacent and closely linked neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia. Together the neighborhoods make up neighborhood planning unit L. The two neighborhoods are frequently cited together in reference to shared problems and to shared redevelopment schemes and revitalization plans.
Eastside refers to the city district comprising the easternmost portion of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The Eastside generally encompasses the area bounded on the west by Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Atlanta and on the east by the city limits. The central corridor of the district is the BeltLine Eastside Trail, which connects northern Eastside neighborhoods with those to the south. The Eastside is known for its nightlife establishments, craftsman architecture, local eateries, and quirky public art.
Gentrification, the process of altering the demographic and socioeconomic composition of a neighborhood usually by decreasing the percentage of low-income minority residents and increasing the percentage higher-income residents, has been an issue between the residents of minority neighborhoods in Chicago who believe the influx of new residents destabilizes their communities, and the gentrifiers who see it as a process that economically improves a neighborhood. Researchers have debated the significance of its effects on the neighborhoods and whether or not it leads to the displacement of residents.
During the early 2000s, displacement of minorities in Portland, Oregon, occurred at a drastic rate. Out of 29 census tracts in north and northeast Portland, ten were majority nonwhite in 2000. By 2010, none of these tracts were majority nonwhite as gentrification drove the cost of living up. Today, Portland's Black community is concentrated in the north and northeast section of the city, mainly in the King neighborhood. In 2017, Portland, Oregon was named the fourth fastest gentrifying city in the United States by Realtor.com. At least one author has ascribed the "urban containment" effect on rising housing prices to Portland's urban growth boundary.
Gentrification in the United States is commonly associated with an influx of higher-income movers into historically divested neighborhoods with existing, working-class residents, often resulting in increases in property prices and investment into new developments. Displacement and gentrification are also linked, with consequences of gentrification including displacement of pre-existing residents and cultural erasure of the historic community. In the United States, discussions surrounding gentrification require critical analysis of race and other demographic data in examining the inequalities and disparities between existing residents, the community, new buyers, and developers caused by gentrification.
Cherry is a historical African-American neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Adjacent to Uptown Charlotte, it is bounded within Little Sugar Creek, Kenilworth Avenue, John Belk Freeway, East 4th Street, Queens Road, and Henley Place.
The gentrification of Baltimore, Maryland, began in 2000 and continues to transform the city by redeveloping specific neighborhoods to appeal to wealthier residents. Due to Baltimore's large amount of gentrification, the city accounts for a significant amount of the United States gentrification. The gentrification of Baltimore has occurred throughout the city, but particularly in the neighborhoods surrounding the Inner Harbor in Central Baltimore and East downtown Baltimore. The gentrification of Baltimore has occurred through the addition of new housing, increased commercial spaces, and more. The transformation that has occurred throughout the city of Baltimore has many benefits as it improves the city in various ways. However, many others feel that gentrification is unfavorable for Baltimore because it displaces current residents from their homes due to rising prices in newly gentrified neighborhoods.
Climate gentrification is a subset of climate migration, in which certain lower-socioeconomic communities are displaced in place of housing for more wealthy communities. Areas affected by this phenomenon are typically coastal cities, islands, and other vulnerable areas that are susceptible to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and other climate-related disasters.