Urban Gentrification and Environmental Justice

The Economical & Social Effects Toward Environment: Urban Gentrification, Environmental Justice
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The Economical & Social Effects Toward Environment: Urban Gentrification, Environmental Justice
Given the current technological and economic developments, urban expansion has become a common factor. Urban development involves installing environmentally beneficial strategies and eliminating all the components that threaten the urban environment. According to Checker (2011), this urban development process is known as gentrification. People have different perceptions about the process of gentrification because it is socially sensitive and focuses on the creation of sustainable futures. Gentrification focuses on developing certain urban areas using modern technology that creates sustainability. However, the process displaces the less fortunate from the developed areas. The new developments cause property prices in the particular area to skyrocket. Such makes it challenging for most of the original residents of the areas to afford the new cost of living. Such is, in turn, reflected by the less fortunate vacating the areas in search of places whose cost of living they can afford. Such a factor is what makes social gentrification a socially sensitive issue. Some of the examples of gentrification projects that will be discussed in this paper are the New York Highline project and the Chicago Blue Bag program. The two projects led to an increase in the cost of living, thus raising questions of their reliability. Therefore, this paper will focus on these two cases and urban development's environmental and social effects.
The main impact of gentrification is that it focuses on creating a sustainable future. Environmental pollution has become a common factor in urban areas, given the current technological advancements. Environmental pollution has adverse impacts on the climate because it has already caused climate change. Environmental justice activists advocate for eliminating the components that harm the environment and the implementation of the components that benefit the environment. Such strategies would require the parties responsible for urban development and planning to develop projects to make the environment greener. A green environment with minimal pollutant agents can only be achieved through the projects that facilitate sustainability. The main issue about such projects is that they seem to benefit a certain group of individuals in society. Checker (2011) gives an example of the Harlem Library. The library was developed years ago, but the neighborhood has not been up to the standards of a green environment. The people living in the neighborhood have been asking for a redevelopment of the part, but actions took a long to be taken. Recently, the park has been renovated, thus making the areas greener than they used to be. However, Checker (2011) raises questions on who is bound to benefit from the project. The project has made the space greener but has also raised the cost of living. She points out that the prices of houses have skyrocketed by an increase of 93% from the previous year. Such indicates that the homeless and the less fortunate can no longer afford to live in such an area. The same people have been advocating for development in the area, but once the development has occurred, it has become challenging for them to afford the area’s cost of living. Therefore, their only option is to move to other areas whose cost of living they can afford. This might be a challenge to a substantial number of individuals in the society but has achieved the sustainability goal of the urban area planners and developers.
Given the current technological developments and rises of rich communities in the urban areas, gentrification seems to be an unavoidable course. Technology has presented human beings with sufficient ways of reducing climatic change by making their living spaces more sustainable. Sustainability cannot be achieved without making development ts that raises the living standards of an area. In most cases, the less fortunate do not receive gentrification with the hype of a green environment. They focus on the possibility of displacements and their residential area becoming a neighborhood for the rich. Therefore, the urban planning and development agencies ought to develop strategies aimed at making the environment sustainable and not displace a substantial number of the less fortunate. If the projects aim to increase the costs of living in certain city areas, it will become challenging for many people to afford to live in the city. In the future, it would be expected that the cities will be greener than before, but only the rich would afford to live in the urban areas. The aim for gentrification should not be the creation of urban inequality but rather focus on a sustainable strategy.
Urban gentrification has a positive impact on the economy because it stimulates economic growth. Through gentrification, city planners and developers can develop profitable ideas such as building restaurants. Such restaurants require workers, which means that they would create new employment opportunities in the area. The employment opportunities would be beneficial to the less fortunate because they get to work in better-paying jobs, thus enabling them to raise their living standards. Once an area has been developed, it would attract high-end clients. These clients have a high chance of investing in the area. These investments create job opportunities for the less fortunate (Checker, 2011). Without urban gentrification, such areas would never have been made a commercial zone, and the job opportunities would never have been created. Therefore, urban gentrification might seem like a socially sensitive topic, but the reality is that it helps in improving the living standards of some people. These are open-minded people who understand the benefits of developing an area and not the people who are only concerned about being displaced. If an individual is open-minded, they would see an opportunity in every challenge. This means that such a person would find it easy to take advantage of the challenge instead of negatively affecting them. The new job opportunities in high-end areas offer lucrative salaries. This means an individual can keep up with the area's cost of the living standard if they pursue employment opportunities. Such a decision would open them to better opportunities in the future, thus reducing their levels of poverty. When people get used to a certain level of living standards, it becomes challenging for them to think beyond such standards. However, when exposed to a different life, the open-minded individual can easily change their mindset about poverty and adapt to living the new life. Therefore, urban gentrification will remain to be a beneficial venture to the cities because it stimulates economic growth. The act might stimulate economic growth at the expense of certain individuals, but the overall effect is increased economic development.
The cities play a major role in facilitating economic growth. The cities harbor most industries that have a major influence on economic growth. Such makes the urban areas the key focus sections that need to be developed to facilitate economic growth. If such an area is not developed, the nation will experience reduced activities in economic growth. For instance, investors would not be willing to develop high-end projects in areas with a low cost of living. Such projects would not accrue and income and, therefore, would turn out to be a waste of money. However, if an area shows the possibility of development in the future, many investors would be willing to invest in such areas. These investors know that such areas are lucrative and present high chances of success for their projects. Once the area has fully developed, the investor’s projects would have achieved their target clients, which means they wo...