Suchergebnisse

Qualitative studies have focused on the proponents and the opponents to gentrification but have not provided a clear picture of the opinions of a truly representative sample of residents. This article uses probability sampling and a large sample size to examine residents in two gentrifying neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. The results suggest that the majority of residents—including owners and renters, Whites and minorities, newcomers and longtime residents, those college educated and not—like how their neighborhood has changed and think it will improve even more in the future. However, regression analysis reveals that renters and longtime Black residents are less likely to view these changes positively.

Art festivals are a feature of many urban districts undergoing gentrification; they help to catalyze change by drawing a set of consumers with particular cultural interests. This article examines whether the arts produce racial exclusions by examining long–term Black and White residents' participation in and perceptions of the monthly Last Thursday Art Walks in Portland's gentrifying Alberta Arts District. We use surveys to measure arts participation and follow–up, in–depth interviews to understand whether long–time residents feel excluded by the arts, and if race is a factor. We find that Black residents participate less in Last Thursdays than White residents, and they often feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. We conclude that the arts–anchored symbolic economy results in racial exclusions that have little to do with differences in arts appreciation, but much to do with perceptions of people associated with the arts, and with residents' abilities to use the arts to identify with neighborhood changes.

Abstract Rural communities rely increasingly on local development organizations (LDOs) to promote economic development. The rise of LDOs has been the source of much debate. Using a national data set that links local governments with development organizations, we contrast the economic development activities, and their outcomes, of local governments and development organizations in rural America. We find that LDOs are involved in more economic development activities than are local governments. They are more successful at business recruitment and more effective at retention/expansion, both in number of firms and in jobs. The organizational networks of LDOs and local governments consistently influence their effectiveness. Finally, we examine the effects of an LDO's presence on the outcomes of business recruitment and of retention and expansion activities. The results suggest that the LDOs' success may be due in part to the networks in which they are embedded and to the amount of effort they make to promote growth.