Gentrification in Brooklyn: Pioneers' misbegotten search for community and the emergence of a new socio-economic class.

Abstract

This thesis explores the process of gentrification in the United States’ most populous city, and particularly in its largest borough, Brooklyn. This process has brought about a change to the socio-economic composition of the residents of Brooklyn, which has become increasingly apparent since the end of the 20th century. The gentrifiers of Brooklyn first arrived from the 1950s and on at a gradual rate. They formed a new kind of class that has been praised for their considerable openness towards diversity, liberal values and artistic inclinations. The effect that this new “creative class” has had on Brooklyn is apparent in the most recent Census: a large percentage of the poverty-stricken African American community in the borough has noticeably emigrated during the past two years, while the creative class is prospering. Utilizing the fieldwork which I did in Brooklyn, I address how the creative class represents a new kind of urban homogeneity. It is different from the urban capitalist setting in Manhattan. Nonetheless, it is overly optimistic to believe that Brooklyn’s creative class, even with its broadly inclusive attitude, can generate a better and more inclusive kind of urbanism.