Essay Sample on Gentrification

Gentrification is the buying of a house in deteriorated urban areas and turning it into high-value properties. Upper and middle-class families usually do the practice. In the series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the landlady Lilian is against gentrification. According to Julian Caddy, the managing director of Brighton Fringe, he suggests that culture is happening in inland Brighton while the beach attracts trash and the wrong people. The problem with this method of upgrading the city is that it results in poor people being homeless and pushed out of the city.

Dangers of Gentrification

Once a person lives in a city or town, it becomes part of him or her. There are other ways of making a town grow other than flattening everything that was there. The choice made to regenerate a city does not have to be either gentrify or die. People like Caddy should not look at a town and see the noise, but they should instead see the fun that the people are having. Brighton is one of the places one can walk from a private view of a feminist art collective, pass through a hen party and end up in a doughnut stand. (Wiseman, 2017)

To make a city beautiful does not necessary have to involve constructing classy hotels. It is important to invest in exciting public places, especially community controlled spaces. Diversity is a major factor that makes a city great. The whitewashing of a city is a short-sighted solution that makes a city look just like any other tidy town. Since a city is made by the interaction of different communities, diversity should be encouraged and celebrated. A good city is one with working transport system, schools, and decent housing that the residents are proud to call home. Lilian believes that a city can be improved to accommodate everyone, both rich and the have-nots. A town should be able to have both art and arcade. (Wiseman, 2017)

Hove artists are facing eviction, and they blame gentrification for driving them from the city. The artists who have been using their studios for 32 years say that gentrification is hurting creative people and driving them out of Brighton. Developers want to knock down a studio complex to build homes that are supposed to accommodate 100 homes. Other people who will suffer from the gentrification includes a church and a group that does soft play that uses the complex.

There is rising property price, and industrial sites are becoming scares. If the plan to demolish the complex goes ahead, it will be difficult for the artist and church members to get an affordable place where they can rebuild. It is not possible for artists to produce their work if they cant have studios that they can use

Argument for gentrification

The developers, however, argue that the buildings are outdated and do not bring in enough rent. The developers claim that there are other vacant industrial places in the region where the artist can get a space. They are also willing to pay the council 288,990 as compensation for the loss of the facilities. They suggest their development will not affect the people of School Road site since the money paid can be used to develop other sporting areas and community facilities (2017) There is a conflict between upgrading a city and ensuring peoples lives are not disrupted. It is important to have a consensus whereby a city accommodates all class of people and celebrate the diversity.

References

Wiseman, E. (2017). Gentrify or die? | Eva Wiseman. the Guardian. Retrieved 10

April 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/24/gentrify-or-die-imagination-to-improve-a-city-brighton-soho-observer-eva-wiseman

(2017). Retrieved 10 April 2017, from http://file:///C:/Users/Paul%20Ereng/Downloads/hove-artists-facing-eviction-say-gentrification-is-driving-them-from-the-city.html