Gentrifier opens up a new conversation about gentrification, one that goes beyond the statistics and the cliches, and examines different sides of a controversial, deeply personal issue. In this lively yet rigorous book, John Joe Schlichtman, Jason Patch, and Marc Lamont Hill take a close look at the socioeconomic factors and individual decisions behind gentrification and their implications for the displacement of low-income residents. Drawing on a variety of perspectives, the authors present interviews, case studies, and analysis in the context of recent scholarship in such areas as urban sociology, geography, planning, and public policy. As well, they share accounts of their first-hand experience as academics, parents, and spouses living in New York City, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence. With unique insight and rare candour, Gentrifier challenges readers' current understandings of gentrification and their own roles within their neighborhoods. A foreword by Peter Marcuse opens the volume.

About the Author
John Joe Schlichtman is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at DePaul University. Jason Patch is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Roger Williams University. Marc Lamont Hill is Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College. Peter Marcuse is a German-American lawyer and Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at Columbia University. Marcuse holds a JD from Yale Law School and a PhD from UC Berkeley in City and Regional Planning.

Reviews

"The co-authors of Gentrifier take a daring tack: Professors all, they break the third wall of social science to admit that their interest is not purely academic." Gentrifiers themselves, Schlichtman, Patch and Hill "believe that by sharing their experiences, they can help make sociological sense of this fraught topic."

-- Daniel Brook * The New York Times, Sunday, July 9, 2017 *

'This book provides a welcome corrective to the slap-dash way 'gentrification' is used as an explanatory force in popular narratives ... It would be a valuable addition to reading lists on urban studies, urban geography and urban planning.'

-- Peter Matthews * London School of Economics Review of Books blog August 2017 *

'Highly Recommended.'

-- D. Fasenfest * Choice Magazine vol 55:04:2017 *

"This is a very interesting piece of work that is likely to draw some attention and may even create some controversy in the gentrification studies circle."

-- Aysegul Can * Urban Studies Journal Vol 55:09:2018 *

"[Gentrifier] is a powerful reminder of the need for a new framework for urban development that re-imagines and re-situates the position of a variety of actors in the urban/suburban landscape."

-- Sheila Foster * The Nature of Cities (online) *

"The authors are well-aware that they risk being self-serving, defensive, or even 'whiny' as they attempt to stake a position in this complex terrain, as both academics and gentrifiers. But by making themselves and their choices part of the analysis, they have produced a unique and important contribution to the progressive literature on gentrification, one that truly does work in the much-sought middle ground between supply and demand side explanations of this form of urban change."

-- Amy Starechesk * Antipode, Radical Journal of Geography (online) *

"In their book Gentrifier, instead of trying to solve the gentrification Rubik's cube, they decide to pull it apart, block-by-block, naming each part and its role in neighborhood change. The book provides not only a glossary of terms, but also tools and rules of engagement for deploying this thing that-if we can all agree on nothing else-has now become a fully loaded and weaponized word. The function of this breakdown is that by using a more scrupulous lexicon for describing the changes happening to one's neighborhood or environment, legislators and regulators can be more responsive and accurate in their policy proposals."

-- Brentin Mock * City Lab, "Books that influenced us in 2017" (online) *



Book Information
ISBN 9781442628410
Author John Joe Schlichtman
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 16mm