Gentrification, the process of wealthier residents moving into a poorer neighborhood in sufficient numbers to transform its social identity, is a major trend in many U.S. cities. Often gentrification is characterized by whites moving into predominantly black neighborhoods, resulting - at least for a time - in racially diverse neighborhoods. The main objective of this project is to examine neighborhood racial integration by analyzing how long-time residents react to gentrification, both in terms of whether they stay in their neighborhood (resulting in stable racial integration) and whether they socially interact with and participate in the same neighborhood organizations as newcomers (resulting in genuine social integration). The central hypothesis is that, among long-time black residents, homeowners are more likely to stay in the neighborhood and socially integrate with newcomers than are renters. The investigator will conduct 80 interviews in two racially diverse, gentrifying neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. These interviews complement a survey of 658 residents that was recently conducted. Interviewees will be selected from a list of survey respondents. All will have lived in their neighborhood since before gentrification began, and they will fall under one of four categories: black homeowners, white homeowners, black renters, and white renters. Interviewer and interviewee will be matched based on race. This research will make both scholarly and policy contributions, especially to sociology. In terms of its scholarly contribution, it will examine whether long-time residents' reactions to newcomers are based more on cultural characteristics or on economic interests. Researchers who emphasize the importance of culture argue that differences in racial identity and education create divisions between newcomers and long-time residents, making it difficult to achieve racial stability and social integration. However, researchers who emphasize the importance of economics argue that homeowners benefit financially from gentrification and therefore, regardless of cultural differences, would be more likely to stay in the neighborhood and be more socially integrated with newcomers than would renters. This study also has important policy implications for it may be the case that homeownership serves three important functions in racially integrated, gentrifying neighborhoods: (1) securing affordable housing for long-time residents, including blacks, (2) maintaining stable neighborhood integration, and (3) increasing social integration between long-time black residents and newer white, middle-class residents. Many Americans are pessimistic about the coexistence of whites and blacks. To some degree this pessimism is the result of a lack of knowledge regarding inter-racial "contact situations" that, on a daily basis, offer a fertile ground for the emergence of a new, non-racial, U.S. culture. The broader impacts of this study of integrated neighborhoods will generate a greater understanding of pathways out of this great American dilemma, including understanding whether homeownership facilitates stable racial integration and inter-racial social integration.
