New Framework Defines Gentrification Stages, Challenges Eviction Correlation
A new study by Simao (Alice) Chen introduces a transparent and replicable framework to define gentrification stages in urban neighborhoods. This clustering-based method utilizes four economic development factors: median household income level, income diversity ratio level, and their trends over time. Neighborhoods are classified into categories such as 'pre-gentrifying,' 'low-change baseline,' 'late-stage gentrifying,' and 'fully gentrified.' The research, published in Urban Science MDPI, challenges the common assumption that gentrification directly leads to more severe evictions. Instead, it finds that eviction severity is highest in 'pre-gentrifying' neighborhoods. However, after controlling for median household income, neighborhoods in more advanced stages of gentrification may experience more evictions than less-gentrified ones, indicating that income trend and income diversity ratio also play significant roles. The study highlights the complexity of the relationship between gentrification and eviction...
