Gentrifier: A Selected Bibliography

As urban job prospects change to reflect a more ‘creative’ economy and the desire for a particular form of ‘urban living’ continues to grow, so too does the migration of young people to cities. Gentrification and gentrifiers are often understood as ‘dirty’ words, ideas discussed at a veiled distance. Gentrifiers, in particular, are usually a ‘they.’

Gentrifier demystifies the idea of gentrification by opening a conversation that links the theoretical and the grassroots, spanning the literature of urban sociology, geography, planning, policy, and more. Along with established research, new analytical tools, and contemporary anecdotes, John Joe Schlichtman, Jason Patch, and Marc Lamont Hill place their personal experiences as urbanists, academics, parents, and spouses at the centre of analysis. They expose raw conversations usually reserved for the privacy of people’s intimate social networks in order to complicate our understanding of the individual decisions behind urban living and the displacement of low-income residents. The authors’ accounts of living in New York City, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence link economic, political, and sociocultural factors to challenge the readers’ current understanding of gentrification and their own roles within their neighbourhoods. A foreword by Peter Marcuse opens the volume. John Joe Schlichtman, Jason Patch and Marc Lamont Hill will discuss Gentrifier on Wednesday 10/18, 6pm at the Seminary Co-op.

Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community by Elijah Anderson (1989)

The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industries by Barry Bluestone & Bennett Harrison (1982)

Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities: Who Wins and Who Loses When Schools Become Urban Amenities by Maia Bloomfield Cucciara (2013)

Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City by Mary Pattillo (2007)

Species of Space and Other Pieces by Georges Perec (2010)

About the authors: John Joe Schlichtman is an urban sociologist and associate professor in the Department of Sociology at DePaul University in Chicago. His research and perspectives have been discussed in such media outlets as Next City, CityLab, and The Economist. A board member of the Research Committee 21 for Urban and Regional Development, he is a recipient of a 2012 PSA Praxis Award and was named a Next City Vanguard in 2016.

Jason Patch is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. He studies disasters, street food vendors, gentrification, women in the city, the sociology of fashion, urban communities, and qualitative methodology. His articles have appeared in a wide range of academic journals.

Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, journalist, activist, and television personality. He is a Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta and the author of the New York Times bestseller Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. He is also a BET News correspondent, a CNN political commentator, and the host of VH1 Live!