Is Development Causing Gentrification in D.C.'s Adams Morgan Neighborhood?

Washington, D.C. planners are working on a comprehensive plan update, inspiring debates about gentrification and growth management around the city. One of the neighborhoods where the debate has been particularly clamorous is the neighborhood of Adams Morgan, according to an article by Patrick McAnaney.

According to McAnaney, the neighborhood listserv exploded with debate in response to the neighborhood's recent addition of a Line Hotel. The debate centered on whether development like the Line Hotel is a benefit to the neighborhood, through redevelopment of previously derelict parcel, or a detriment, through the displacement of the existing community and the influx of luxury and wealth.

McAnaney responds to the debate by examining the demographic trends in Adams Morgan, finding that the population in the neighborhood has not grown, but it has become more affluent and less diverse (i.e., whiter). However, McAnaney also finds very little development in the neighborhood in recent years—so he posits that a lack of development hasn’t eased the pressures of gentrification.