Housing rehabilitation and its role in neighborhood change: a framework for evaluation

Abstract

In most empirical studies of neighborhood change, particularly those on the issue of gentrification, the analysis focuses either on variations in population, transformations in the housing market, or modifications in the physical condition of buildings, without attending to the interaction of these different but interrelated aspects of residential change. Moreover, variations within a geographical area are lost since statistical data used pertain to areas larger than the neighborhoods themselves. Here, a framework of analysis that combines three aspects of neighborhood change, namely, changes in the physical stock,the housing market, and the population, is proposed. Data in these categories are collected at the level of individual properties and their interaction is studied. Various sequences and patterns of occurrence of these three aspects of residential change are argued to imply different intentions behind the practices of the many actors involved. Hence, the proposed framework clarifies the complexity of the process of neighborhood change and uncovers the dynamics behind it. This approach is applied to an inner city neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), in order to discuss and evaluate transformations experienced in the area in the 1980s.In most empirical studies of neighborhood change, particularly those on the issue of gentrification, the analysis focuses either on variations in population, transformations in the housing market, or modifications in the physical condition of buildings, without attending to the interaction of these different but interrelated aspects of residential change. Moreover, variations within a geographical area are lost since statistical data used pertain to areas larger than the neighborhoods themselves. Here, a framework of analysis that combines three aspects of neighborhood change, namely, changes in the physical stock, the housing market, and the population, is proposed. Data in these categories are collected at the level of individual properties and their interaction is studied. Various sequences and patterns of occurrence of these three aspects of residential change are argued to imply different intentions behind the practices of the many actors involved. Hence, the proposed framework clarifies the complexity of the process of neighborhood change and uncovers the dynamics behind it. This approach is applied to an inner city neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), in order to discuss and evaluate transformations experienced in the area in the 1980s.