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.
We do need a word for banlieue in English. I can't think of anything that comes close. But there are plenty of places in the US that fit that label already. Here in the DC area (mostly on the MD side) especially.
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