Opinion of Gentrification

[Torie]

We gay boys have a niche doing it. It's bread on our table.

[Torie]

It depends what you mean by gentrification and even then it depends a little on the circumstances, but, basically it's a bad thing. It also tends to lead (and quite inevitably) to the creation of banlieues (there isn't a good word for this in English), which is something that middle class people have a strange tendency to forget.

Why are "slums" more desirable in the inner city, than in an outside ring ala Paris? In all events, it would seem to me to be good social policy ceteris paribus for the lower SES types to have housing near where they work.

[Torie]

It depends what you mean by gentrification and even then it depends a little on the circumstances, but, basically it's a bad thing. It also tends to lead (and quite inevitably) to the creation of banlieues (there isn't a good word for this in English), which is something that middle class people have a strange tendency to forget.

Why are "slums" more desirable in the inner city, than in an outside ring ala Paris? In all events, it would seem to me to be good social policy ceteris paribus for the lower SES types to have housing near where they work.

Well, it's good social policy for everybody to have housing near where they work, for myriad reasons.  To the extent that it forces lower SES types to have longer commutes, that's really the one thing about gentrification that I would consider to be a likely negative.

Indeed. But the jobs are not so much in the inner city anymore for the poors. And I do have an aesthetic preference for diversity in neighborhoods, both as to ethnicity, class, and yes belief - provided that they are safe.  This segregation by belief that is getting even more salient now than ethnicity, and yes, even class, and I don't think that is healthy for the polity. Folks tend to  live in their own self reinforcing bubbles.  Breaking out of the bubble requires not only honest intellectualism, but also emotional connections. I have come to appreciate more the importance of the emotional factor from my own now rather long in the tooth life experiences.

[Torie]

Al, was the "war" on London "slums," effected primarily through the muscle of state condemnation of private property for redevelopment purposes ala the Kelo SCOTUS decision in the US, or the change of use of public property into modes more compatible with bourgeoisie taste, or both?

[Torie]

I need to post more here, (later maybe), but in the meantime, it should be noted that you can have gentrification in rural areas as well. And it is an Abomination Unto The Lord.

All those "farm houses" lived in by MD's, CPA's, and solicitors south of London in Kent and Sussex Counties come to mind.