How is Green Gentrification Furthering Disparities in Urban Renewal?

Green Gentrification Overview 

Gentrification occurs when wealthier, often white residents move into an existing low income urban district, displacing marginalized communities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites three key aspects of gentrification:

1. Rising property values and rental costs;
2. New construction, upgrading, or renovation of residential areas; 
3. Turnover in the local population, including changes in the racial or ethnic composition. 

When the protection and cleanup of brownfields, locally undesirable land uses (LULUs), other vacant and derelict land (VDL), or the introduction of urban green spaces and gardens instigates this trend, it is called environmental, or green, gentrification. 

A brownfield is an expanse of land that may contain a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. There are about 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. today. Locally undesirable land uses include nuclear waste disposal sites, toxic waste dumps, incinerators, smelters, airports, freeways, and other sources of environmental, economic, or social degradation. Vacant and derelict land is property where industry once existed but became obsolete due to abandonment by absentee landlords, or brownfields. Attractive green spaces are amenities like parks and community gardens. They also include revitalization projects that incorporate higher quantities of natural vegetation, fields, and flowers in urban spaces. Renewing these spaces or introducing attractive green spaces without anti-displacement measures has displaced underserved residents from their newly improved communities, which some have referred to as environmental racism. Displacement caused by environmental gentrification manifests in three forms.

1. Direct Displacement forces residents to move because of rent increases and building renovations.
2. Exclusionary Displacement happens when housing choices for low income residents are limited.
3. Displacement pressures are created when supports and social services low-income families rely on disappear from the neighborhood. 

Causes of Green Gentrification

In the 1930s, the Federal Housing Administration enforced a series of racially discriminatory lending practices (known as redlining). These made it harder for Black Americans to purchase homes and accumulate wealth, so individuals from lower income and minority communities relocated to urban, inner-city areas where housing options were affordable. 

These areas often bordered brownfields, VDLs, or LULUs. Over the years, public and private interest in revitalizing these areas has increased. Redeveloping brownfields increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, and improves the environment. Similarly, LULU rehabilitation can drive up local real estate prices while improving sanitation conditions for minority communities. As a result, developers have begun capitalizing on VDLs and other land in communities of color. Low cost land is often transformed into luxury residential units and projects with green amenities to attract affluent consumers market. 

The EPA’s Brownfield and Land Revitalization Program, created in 1995, incentivizes local governments to invest in cleaning up and redeveloping these areas to initiate urban renewal projects through grants issued by the EPA. The program’s initiatives focus on environmental cleanup and conservation practices for areas with heavy environmental devastation (which are predominantly located in or surrounding communities of color). However, these policies focus on their projects’ environmental and economic benefits and often do not consider consequences for existing residents which leaves marginalized residents vulnerable to displacement. 

Problems and Effects of Green Gentrification

When low income populations are priced out of their neighborhoods, there is a high risk of eviction. Hispanic and Black renters experience eviction at higher rates than white renters. Evictions have been correlated with intensified poverty conditions, declining credit scores, lower earnings in adulthood, and lower life expectancy. Displacement by green gentrification prevents residents of color from benefiting from the improved environmental and infrastructural conditions. White residents, who are overrepresented in green urban spaces, are often the only ones who experience their benefits. Environmental gentrification can alter a city’s makeup and lifestyle through changing demographics and declining racial diversity. 

Possible Policies and Solutions

Some city planners and administrations advocate for legislation that restricts developers and landlords from dramatically increasing housing costs following urban renewal projects. On the other hand, others argue to allow more unrestricted development to avoid interfering with local economies and potentially stunting economic growth. 

The “Just Green Enough” plan attempts to achieve environmental remediation while avoiding gentrification by revitalizing urban space with smaller projects. In this way, the development is “just enough” to cultivate the benefits of sustainability and green space while still prioritizing the community’s needs and avoiding displacement. These projects include building smaller parks coupled with affordable housing. This politically moderate solution does not deter the development of urban green spaces, but does try to adjust it to avoid the possibility of displacement. However, there is evidence that suggests it is just as likely for property values to rise in neighborhoods in close proximity to small-scale projects as larger ones, indicating that this solution may not be as effective at discouraging gentrification, which is a challenge in and of itself. 

One alternative is a Community Land Trust (CLT)–community owned land which regulates housing prices and keeps them affordable for long periods of time. This housing is only sold to low-income families, who receive a modest return on their investment due to their “shared equity.” Philadelphia created a CLT in 2010 to combat growing housing prices in the city, and manages 36 rent-to-own townhomes with plans to build 75 more.

The most recent federal legislation pertaining to green gentrification was the Opportunities Zones (OZ) Act (2017). This act allows investors to receive tax benefits for developing ZIP codes that governors within each state have identified as needing investment. To qualify as an OZ, the area must have a poverty rate of at least 20 percent. While it promotes investment in struggling areas, the act does not include anti- displacement measures.