Gentrification and The Plan of Nashville

My dictionary.com app (#teamiphone #folife) defines "gentrification" as "the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses." I mostly see this when white folks want to "improve" something. Like the situation with Belmont and Rose Park. OH! And when white people want to be edgy and/or gritty and move to East Nashville… I don't really see it happening in other ghettos, though… Nolensville Rd. is still very Mexican...

Architecture and civil engineering are interests of mine (In 3rd grade I drafted an entire city without direction or adult input…) so while I was in line waiting for my Mocha JavaKula at Borders The Plan of Nashville caught my eye. It's a great book and an awesome plan. However… does such a plan cross that line into gentrification? One of the 10 principles that guided The Plan (and I love their principles) is "Strengthen the unique identity of neighborhoods." But how does one know the "unique identity" of a given neighborhood unless s/he is from that neighborhood?

It seems that if the city spends the money to implement these plans, inevitably, low-income families won't be able to afford it anymore. Now… Affordable housing is apart of The Plan but what about the new parks and marinas they have planned? Property values around those neighborhoods will skyrocket. The poor and minority families that live there now will probably have to move. Is it big bad gentrification if the city is improved?

I'm not knocking the Nashville Civic Design Center. As I understand it, The Plan was a community project with input from many people from many people from many backgrounds… I'm just saying… some of the problem with gentrification is that white people -- especially some uber liberal white folks -- get it into their heads that they know what the black community wants. They think they understand the structure of the black community.

So many times during the Belmont/Rose Park debate, I heard classmates saying, "But that community isn't using the park. It's just… sitting there. Plus we'll make it better, state of the art. Why don't/can't/won't they appreciate that?" No one saying that came from Edgehill, so how could they say that Rose Park wasn't exactly the way that community wanted or needed it to be?

I don't know… For the record, I love The Plan of Nashville. There is this part about how interstates severed historic neighborhoods that I found really interesting, but maybe I'm a nerd… Go to the site to read more. Buy the book. Watch the little film. Tell me if and where you think this falls into that murky gentrification pool...