[rwhitman]

There's a state of equilibrium between 'bad neighborhood' and bourgeois that needs to be achieved if gentrification is to sustainably hold a diverse base of residents. There's a tipping point that can easily take a neighborhood in one direction or the other. Somehow over the years I've managed to live in this "sweet spot" in a number of different cities - just after the gangs have left, the artists and coffee shops are thriving but the older residents can still afford their rent.

The downside to gentrification is that it never stays in the sweet spot forever, eventually the neighborhood becomes SoHo or SoMa or whatever. With the current wave of re-urbanization in the US this cycle has been moving faster and faster and gentrification moving further afield. Eventually the majority of every major city will look like manhattan with the poor and creative class living nearly to the suburbs.

I'd say thats the real downside to rampant gentrification - a future where urban centers loose all character - and affordability and creativity are relegated to distant enclaves far out of reach

[geebee]

I agree, though the outcome of the gentrification process can still vary. Starbucks and chain restaurants definitely aren't the only possible outcome. Look at the left bank of Paris, for instance. It's a boutique dream. There's something lost, no doubt, in all the wealth. It's hard to imagine a penniless artist catching pigeons in the luxembourg gardens for dinner. But it is an exceedingly pleasant place to go for a walk, look in shop windows, and have a cup of coffee.

I remember an essay (linked to by David Brooks in the NYTimes) about the gentrification of the upper west side in New York. You might be interested in taking a look...

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-upper-west-sid...