Editing Gentrification (section)

== Benefits and Costs ==

Gentrification's benefits are visible and real. Former vacant lots sprout new construction. Abandoned buildings are renovated. New businesses open. Crime often declines. City services improve as property tax revenues increase. The physical environment transforms from blight to vitality. For the city government, gentrification generates revenue without requiring investment; private capital does the work of upgrading neighborhoods. For new residents, gentrified neighborhoods offer affordable urban living with improving amenities. These benefits explain why city governments often encourage gentrification despite its costs.<ref name="kromer"/>

The costs are concentrated among those with least power to resist. Displaced residents lose not just housing but community—the networks of support that make urban life manageable. Small businesses that served working-class communities are replaced by establishments targeting wealthier customers. Neighborhood cultures developed over generations disappear. The transformation, while beneficial in aggregate measures, represents loss for those who are displaced. The question of whether gentrification's benefits outweigh its costs depends heavily on whose perspective is centered—those who arrive or those who must leave.<ref name="smith"/>