Gentrification in the “City of Good Neighbors”: Race, Class, and Neighborhoods in Buffalo

Many neighborhoods in U.S. cities that were once predominantly black and poor have become largely white and middle class. The process of gentrification has fundamentally changed neighborhoods—and metropolises—throughout the United States. Using in-depth, in-person interview data from black and white young adults in two Buffalo, New York, neighborhoods, we seek to more fully develop the economic, social, and cultural explanations that draw new residents to such neighborhoods. The racial and neighborhood comparisons also allow us to make sense of gentrifiers’ residential and housing choices. Several themes are developed from the data including neighborhood popularity, cost, and diversity. The data also reveal two types of gentrifiers: mindful and perfunctory. Mindful gentrifiers include residents who think about their socioeconomic footprint and issues such as displacement; perfunctory gentrifiers are more generally concerned with the amenities of a neighborhood. As city planners, social scientists, and others seek to improve the outcomes associated with gentrification, debates will benefit from detailed insights about young adults’ residential decisions.