History

Gentrification

Conflict

Primary Documents

Bibliography

Abbott, Carl. Greater Portland. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.
Looks at Portland's history by recognizing present day laws, neighborhood demographics, city goals (e.g. industrialization vs. preservation), land use, schools etc., and then researches events which lead up to where Portland is today. The live-ability and personality of cities across the nation were compared to those of Portland. Emphasis is put on where Portland's population is today and reasons why this is the case.

Cornerstones of Community: Buildings of Portland's African American History. Portland, Oregon: Bosco-Milligan Foundation, 1995.

----------. Portland Gateway to the Northwest. Tarzana, California: Produced in Cooperation with Portland State University, American Historical Press, 1997.
Gives historical count of Portland's growth beginning in the 1800s to present day. Comparisons are drawn between progressive industrialism to preservation of resources. Photos grace almost every page illuminating the trials and tribulations of Portland's past including a picture of Old John a member of the Multnomahs Indian tribe to the Standard Insurance Center high rise.

Cameron, Y. Yee and Quiroz-Martinez, Julie. "There Goes the Neighborhood: A Regional Analysis of Gentrification and Community Stability," Urban Habitat Program, 1999.
This pamphlet is an analysis of the current trends of Gentrification in San Francisco. This report identifies three phases that lead eventually to gentrification, disinvestments, public re-investment and displacement. This report also gives some policy recommendations designed to slow gentrification and ensure community stabilization. The recommendations include: reforming fair share housing laws; increased funding for community planning, improving transit systems, promoting community controlled land uses and ending discrimination in housing and lending.

Caulfield, Joe. City Form and Everyday Life: Torondo's Gentrification and critical social practice. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
While Caulfield sees the pursuit of profit and the unjust displacement of the poor to be elements of gentrification, he rejects theoretical models that explain the phenomenon strictly by economic determinism. Instead, he places much more importance on the "culture of everyday life in the process of city-building." He maintains that when studying gentrification one cannot overlook the emergence of a particular set of social values within a sub-set of the middle class that fostered a rejection of suburban life and a heightened appreciation for historical urban landscapes. Caulfield supports his claim with a series of interviews with members of the middle class who recently relocated to inner-city neighborhoods in Toronto.

Cornerstones of Community: Buildings of Portland's African American History. Portland, Oregon: Bosco-Milligan Foundation, 1995.
Tells the history of North and Northeast Portland emphasizing the importance of the history of the buildings. The histories of the buildings reveal the migration of people in and out of this area. Reactions from the local community members are included. In addition to personal reaction, lists of houses and other buildings prior to and including the 20th century. The maps included track the African American Population Center from the 1890s to 1965. Also included is a list called Buildings of Portland's African American History from 1995. This list includes the addresses, what era the home or building is from, whether the building is still standing, what references were used to gather the information, the occupation of owner or significant notation and direction of where to find the house or building on the maps provided.

Development Without Displacement Task Force Background Paper. The Chicago Rehab Network, The Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement, Chicago, June, 1995.
This paper is the result of research done at the request of the Chicago Rehab Network, Development Without Displacement task Force. The paper discusses possible approaches at the local level including policies, programs and strategies for redevelopment without displacement. The paper includes a section on case studies specific to Chicago. The three main observations and or strategies outlined in the paper are: public pressure is necessary for development to occur without displacement; current city programs need to be looked at to determine how they can be utilized to "stabilize communities and minimize displacement;" and last new strategies need to be created at the local level designed to enable neighborhood redevelopment without displacement, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.

Gaston, Mauricio and Kennedy, Marie. "Capital Investment or Community Development? The Struggle for Land Control by Boston's Blank and Latino Community." Antipode [Great Britain]. 1987 19(2): 178-209.
This article examines the response to gentrification by residents of Roxbury, a largely Black and Latino community in Boston, Massachusetts. Whereas the community used to suffer from disinvestment and neglect, in the late 1980's the area was flooded with investment. Consequently the neighborhood faces mass displacement of the poor who find it increasingly difficult to afford to live there. The authors provide a brief history of Roxbury and go on to describe the strategies and political activism within the community to combat the forces of gentrification. They maintain that community organization in Roxbury provides a helpful model for other communities nationwide that are experiencing the same difficulties.

Kennedy, Maureen and Leonard, Paul. Dealing with Neighborhood Change: A Primer on Gentrification and Policy Changes, 2001.
This paper was written as a discussion article for the Brookings Institute. The authors argue that gentrification is a politically loaded concept because its meaning is not clear and that gentrification is not always negative. The report also argues that the rate at which gentrification occurs has a direct correlation to the number of related problems. In the authors' words, "the pace of change matters a great deal." "Rapid gentrification brings with it many more problems than does a slow but steady revitalization." The worst problem caused by gentrification is involuntary displacement. The report argues that the concept of gentrification can be used to drive resources such as jobs and housing into lower-income communities. Lastly the authors contend a community can counter he ill effects of gentrification if you can link the job and market demands to that community.

Koebel, C. Theodore. "Urban Redevelopment, Displacement and the Future of the American City," Center for Housing Research, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, April 15, 1996.
The author concludes that redevelopment is essential for the survival of the American inner city, as many middle class Americans move to the suburbs. Redevelopment strategies must be designed to take into account the residents who already live in the neighborhoods or gentrification and displacement will result. The interest of the low income households is best served with possibilities for affordable home ownership, affordable housing and mixed income communities. In addition, CDC's and neighborhood organizations involvement is essential for balanced neighborhood redevelopment. This report was prepared for the Community Affairs Office of the Federal reserve Bank of Richmond.

Lampe, David. "The Role of Gentrification in Central City Revitalization." National Civic Review 1993 82(4): 363-170.
This article offers an overview of the history of gentrification in American cities. Lampe describes the urban renewal programs of the 1950s, which replaced small, low- and moderate-income housing with crowded high-rise housing projects. Those who could afford to escape this concentration of poverty fled for the suburbs, leaving the most disadvantaged behind. When some members of the middle class rediscovered the advantages of city-living in the 1980s, class tensions ran high as displacement began to occur. Lampe maintains that the "urban gentry," or the reemerging middle class, is not to blame for the circumstances of the inner-city poor. Rather, the federal government's failure to provide adequate social services to those in need is at fault.

Lane, Dee. "Buyers Say Home Loans Refused for Some NE Sites." The Oregonian, 10 September 1990, A11.
This article and the one following are a part of a series entitled, "Blueprint for a Slum" and are a must-read for anyone skeptical about the occurrence of redlining in North Portland in the 1990s. The first article features the experiences of three separate parties as they tried to establish mortgages from banks to purchase homes in the North Portland Area. The parties represented people on each end of the earning spectrum. The article leads the reader to the conclusion that banks were imposing minimum amounts for mortgages to avoid investment in the North Portland area. One woman relayed and an experience she had with one loan officer who essentially told her that her house was worth less because there were blacks in the neighborhood.

----------. "Major Lenders Aid Decline of NE Portland." The Oregonian, 10 September 1990, A01.
This article, another from the "Blueprint for a Slum" series, continues to uncover the real estate practices during the nineties that served to discourage home ownership in the North Portland area. The article suggests that the decline of the neighborhoods in North Portland had at least as much to do with shady (if not outright illegal) real estate practices as the drugs, gangs and crime in the area.

Maben, Manly. Vanport. Portland, Oregon: OHS Press, 1987.
Gives the story of the need of public housing during pre WWII times where labor was recruited from all around to come to Portland and work in the shipyards. Describes life as it was in the city of Vanport. Touching on details such as the Vanport College, child services, policing services, public schools and race among other subjects. Pictures, maps, a bibliography and diagrams help to tell the very personal and complex history of Vanport.

McLagan, Elizabeth. A Peculiar Paradise: A History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940. Portland: The Georgian Press, 1980.
This book covers the history of blacks in Oregon from the first recorded black person to set foot on Oregon soil during the days of exploration to the civil rights ordinances passed in the 1950s. The concentration of the book, however, is on the experiences of blacks in Oregon from 1843 to 1875. Topics of this book include: attitudes towards blacks throughout the years, exclusion laws, the slavery controversy, anti-black legislation, the experience of rural black people, and the development of the black community in Portland.

Nyden, Philip et al., "The Emergence of Stable Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Communities: A Case Study of Nine U.S. Cities," Housing Policy Debate, 1997 8(2) 491-535.
This study looks at fourteen communities in nine U.S. cities that are racially stable and ethnically diverse, and attempts to point out the public policies that have led to these "successful" communities. The study points to a number of factors that are roadblocks to neighborhood racial, ethnic and economic diversity. Among these roadblocks are two main misconceptions: the first is that the influx of racially and economically diverse inhabitants leads to economic decline; and two from the standpoint of low-income neighborhoods, diversity leads to gentrification and displacement. The authors concluded that through the right public policy, leadership and community based organizations racially, ethnically and economically diverse communities can continue to multiply and grow at the expense of segregated neighborhoods.

Pancoast, Diane. "Blacks in Oregon (1940-1950)" in Blacks in Oregon: a statistical and historical report. ed. Little, William A., Ph.D. and Weiss, James E., Ph.D. Portland, Oregon: Black Studies Center and the Center for Population Research and Census, Portland State University, 1978.
This study provides detailed information on the status of Blacks through out the 40s to 50s. During this decade, included in the study, are the vital statistics of the Black community and documents of how this community responded to the events around them. Conclusions are drawn, based on data collected of how the residential color line came to be in the Northeast. The data included interviews, census information and local organizations including the Oregonian newspaper.

Portland's Albina Community: The History of Portland's African American Community (1805 to the Present). Portland: Bureau of Planning, February 1993.
Chronicles the African American history in Portland including the migration of people from one decade to the next. Includes major influences to the North Northeast area including the Vanport Flood, the restriction of Blacks purchasing homes and the creation of the Albina area. Housing discrimination is specifically addressed. Pictures, graphs, maps and a bibliography page are also included.

Robinson, Tony. "Gentrification and Grassroots Resistance in San Francisco's Tenderloin. Urban Affairs Review. 1995 30(4): 483-513.
This article presents the successful grassroots activism against forces of gentrification by residents of San Francisco's Tenderloin, a low-income inner-city district. Between the 1950s and the 1980s San Francisco underwent significant government-facilitated redevelopment, much of which occurred within blocks of the Tenderloin district and served to further concentrate the poor within its borders. Rejecting the notion that the neighborhood was out of control and in desperate need of need of revitalization, the same notion that was the driving force behind the 337% neighborhood-wide rent increase between 1977 and 1986 and the purging of the neighborhood's poor, community activists organized to combat the disappearance of single room occupancy units (SROs), and to create non-profit housing development corporations (HDCs). These efforts were successful in developing a neighborhood-sensitive approach to community development in the face of strong forces toward gentrification and displacement.

Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. New York: Routledge, 1996.
Smith views gentrification through a strictly economic lens and maintains that the pursuit for profit within neighborhoods that once underwent devaluation and neglect but are now experiencing revitalization is in essence an attack on the working class and the poor. He downplays the role of cultural factors in the process of gentrification. Instead he takes a neo-Marxian structuralist point of view, asserting that the movement of capital in and out of targeted areas is the real force behind gentrification. In the first chapter Smith sets the stage for the discussion by focusing on New York's Lower East Side. In early chapters he offers a theoretical analysis of gentrification, which he follows in latter chapters with case studies of gentrification in Society Hill, Harlem, Amsterdam, Budapest, and Paris.

The Oregon Story 1850 to 2000. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 2000.
Provides an overview of historical events told by the staff of the Oregonian newspaper from the late 1800s to the present. Covering each decade with pictures, local personal spotlights, time lines and statistics reflecting, for example, subjects such as environment, work, school and home.