The Politics of Revitalization in Gentrifying Neighborhoods The Case of Boston's South End

Abstract

Federal and local officials have in recent years enacted programs to escalate the middle-class resettlement of city neighborhoods. Enamoured with the physical and economic benefits promised by the back-to-the-city movement, they have underestimated the shortcomings of this neighborhood revitalization strategy. The experience of Boston's South End with publicly supported middle-class resettlement illustrates the severe social and political strains that can develop between incumbents and more affluent “pioneers”—strains which can ultimately inflict damage on the neighborhood's poor. Officials must direct current resources to aid the cities' poorer residents and avoid stimulating gentrification until its adverse side effects can be controlled.