Gray Ayer

A Primer on Gentrification in Portland

What Is Gentrification

Often times the terms gentrification and displacement are used interchangeably. While it may be rare for gentrification to occur without displacement, this paper will establish how these are words refer to two different but related concepts. For most circles, the term gentrification refers to a 'natural' real estate process almost exclusively occurring in deteriorated close-in urban areas that contain significant levels of older buildings. Sometimes this is aided by government assistance such as funding facade improvements, but , government is by no means the prime player in this process.