Does Gentrification bring Neighborhood Effects? Evidence from a Qualitative Inquiry.

Gentrification, by bringing middle class residents to relatively poor neighborhoods would seem to hold the potential to bring about the putatively beneficial ?neighborhood effects? for poor neighborhoods that scholars have written about and policy makers are attempting to bring about through various schemes. Relatively little research, however, has been done on neighborhood effects in the context of gentrification. This article considers the likelihood of neighborhood effects in the context of gentrification drawing on qualitative research conducted in two gentrifying Neighborhoods in New York City. I find that gentrification does bring about neighborhood effects, but mostly through improved amenities and services and more leverageable social ties and not through the gentry serving as ?role models.? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]