There are many questions introduced when addressing gentrification, such as: Who are the developers of gentrification? What elements are sought for in the process of gentrifying? How does gentrification modify a neighborhood's structure?

In this Ted Talk, Stacey Sutton addresses the misconceptions about gentrification on it being considered neighborhood development; yet, it is a complicated socially injustice issue imposed on lower-status groups.

Transportation Accessibility in Oakland, CA

Because of the Silicon Valley's and San Francisco's prosperous economic and real estate market period, intense ramifications have resulted in neighboring Bay Area cities, causing an increase in housing affordability and changes in demography. Residents express concern over this due to the rippling effect that may be detrimental to their own residential property values.

Oakland's ideal transportation site makes it an attractive factor for gentrifiers as the MacArthur Station Areas includes neighborhoods such as Longfellow (North Oakland region), Hoover-Foster (West Oakland region), Temescal, Pill Hill, and Korean North Gate. The Bay Area's most popular transit system known as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has contributed a large role in the city's development. Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) believes "the gentrifying pressures on this area rest fundamentally on the neighborhood's connectivity, its access to major freeways, a BART transfer station, and the 1 and 57 bus lines." Business owners see this as an opportunity for an increase in population in the area and thus open businesses there as well as due to inexpensive building properties.

Historical Context of Oakland

Since the 1940s, capital investment has explained not only demographic differences in the Oakland area but residential displacement. The World War II era prompted the growth in the racial divide between African-American and White residents. Many people are unaware about the redlining that occurred during this period where the government supported segregation by refusing for African Americans to reside in these regions. Redlining made it "nearly impossible for African Americans to purchase homes and establish businesses east of Telegraph," which elucidates the encouragement of the social-spatial injustice that began decades ago with government reinforcement. To this day, racial segregation is still prevalent in Oakland as Whites reside in North Oakland and African-Americans and Hispanics are predominantly in West Oakland.

In the 1960s, the construction of the Grove-Shafter Freeway (CA-24) and other urban renewal projects had disrupted the neighborhood divide as they intersected the area and yielded a period of economic decline. While this transportation system had evidently impacted commuting services between Bay Area cities, homes were demolished and long-established local businesses eradicated which remodeled the culture and community of the neighborhoods. Not only does gentrification displaces people from their homes due to unaffordable housing but it also disconnects neighborly ties, social networks, support systems, familiar routines and experiences, and emotional security. "Remain" strategies by displaced families emerged in attempt to fight gentrification. Unfortunately, crime and poverty rates distinctly increased in MacArthur neighborhoods (except Temescal) in the 1990s. The neighborhoods East of the Grove-Shafter Freeway then saw a decline in African-American families but arrival of Korean, Ethiopian, and Enitrean residents and businesses marking the onset of gentrification in the Temescal and Broadway neighborhoods.

Demographic Changes

Because of the gentrification caused by the economic development east of the Grove-Shafter Freeway, a major decrease in African-American families reflects on the racial impact. In 1980, African-Americans acquired over 64 percent over the study area of MacArthur while Whites made up 25 percent of its residents; however, by 2013, African-Americans community decreased to 34 percent while Whites escalated to 34 percent. This evidently shows the social-spatial impact on racial communities. Homeowners rates also increased for Whites in the areas to 41 percent whereas African American homeowners decreased to 35 percent, from 1990 in which African Americans families composed 64 percent of the neighborhood's homeowner population. The disparate rates the demography in these regions portray the consequential effects of gentrification on lower-income minority groups.

Moreover, studies show that educational attainment has also influenced the rates of income and poverty in these areas. Groups with high school diplomas versus those with college degrees are attributed to different neighborhood regions. Over the last 30 years, rates with those who obtain college degrees have increased from 14 percent in 1980 to 38 percent in 2013. MacArthur neighborhoods display different statistics for those who have completed high school; for instance, in Hoover-Foster, 42 percent of its residents in 1980 had not completed high school whereas in Temescal/Broadway, 22 percent of its residents did not complete high school. Evidently, the level of education one possesses affects their income as it shows in Oakland itself. However, more studies suggest that the specific neighborhood newcomers who obtain high level education backgrounds have influenced the increase in educational attainment from 1980 to 2013. In the Koreatown-Northgate neighborhood, the statistics for college-educated individuals rose from 12 percent in 1980 to 33 percent in 2013.

Cultural Landscape

A coalition known as the Black Panther Party was established in 1966 in West Oakland in order to protect residents from police brutality. The police sought to decimate the group in the late 60s and 70s by hiring members of the Black community to act as spies in the coalition and discover the Black Panthers' schemes. By 1982, the group discontinued and West Oakland became one of the poorest and violent urban areas in America due to increased police brutality and the war on drugs. However, Oakland mayor Jerry Brown attempted to resolve this brutal culture by promising to redevelop Downtown Oakland through renovation of the arts and entertainment district. By doing so, he attracted 10,000 new residents into the city. Because of San Francisco's economic boom raising housing costs, people moved to Oakland as the renewed neighborhoods were an incentive for newcomers and thus began the process of gentrification.

Union Plaza Park and Afrikatown Garden

Union Plaza Park and Afrikatown Garden are two main parts located in the opposite ends of West Oakland. Both sites were used as case studies to investigate how these gardens contribute to the process of green gentrification. Green gentrification refers to the agenda used to implement green spaces in neighborhoods to promote environmental vitality restoration that leads to the displacement of residents from their homes. Union Plaza Park sits in the neighborhood of Dogtown (officially called Clawson), a blend between residential and industrial space. The area is majorly filled with Black working class residents but have been displaced from their homes due to the ideal location of the gardens and how city development plans just blocks away impact housing costs. Afrikatown Garden, on the other hand, serves as a place for anti- gentrifiers that also advocated for social justice. This garden helps bring people in the community together through community donations and volunteer work. While the gardens are environmentally positive for communities by displaying natural aesthetic areas, it can also have an effect on the entire neighborhood. These revitalization ideas formed reasons for higher-income residents to move to Bay Area cities outside of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, and thus with their wealth they are able to refurbish the entire neighborhood.

The Discussion on Green Gentrification

Gentrification has been studied for over fifty years now and because Oakland holds many spaces for opportunity to create a natural renewable economy, environmentalists advocate for greening whereas residents who have history in their residential neighborhoods oppose it due to the displacement of their families. This phenomenon has deeply affected the discussion on environmental justice versus moral community values. It also dialogues real estate development and racial profiling in neighborhoods and how this connection has progressed over time. The conceptualization of gentrification is moved through political power and urban cities and defines its grid of meaning.

• Between 1950s and 1960s: Oakland's African American population doubles from 55,778 to 100,000

• 1960s: Construction of the Grover-Shafter Freeway (CA-24) and other urban renewal projects

• 1977: Oakland's first African-American mayor, Lionel Wilson, takes office

• 1980s: MacArthur Station neighborhood was predominantly African American

• Between the 1980s and 1990s: increase in immigration from East Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America

• Between 1990 ad 2000, poverty rates in MacArthur neighborhoods (except Temescal) significantly rose higher

• After 2000, merchant initiated attempts including the Temescal/Telegraph Business Improvement District and government development plans such as Telegraph Streetscape Improvements Project established

• 2006: artists and gallery owners move into Oakland to promote 'Art Murmur' on the first Friday of every month

• 2007: tech-driven surpluses and a national increase in mortgage increases housing costs

• Between 2007 and 2011, over 10,000 homes reverted to bank ownership and foreclosures were prevalent in areas that had once been redlined

Map of MacArthur Station neighborhoods

Map of Union Plaza Park and Afrikatown Garden

Gentrification Map of Oakland

1. Chapple, Karen, and Miriam Zuk. “Case Studies on Gentrification and Displacement in the San Francisco Bay Area.” July 2015.
2. Felicich , Nicholas C. “Eating Your Greens: Community Gardens and Gentrification in Oakland .” Dec. 2017.
3. Helbrecht, Ilse. Gentrification and Resistance: Researching Displacement Processes and Adaption Strategies. Springer VS, 2018.
4. Justa, Causa. “Development Without Displacement .”
5. Werth, Alex, and Eli Marienthal. “'Gentrification' as a Grid of Meaning .” City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 21 Dec. 2016, doi:http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/13604813.2016.1224484.