Research published by Governing Magazine finds that Portland, Oregon is the U.S. city with the highest degree of gentrification in this century.
Rob Wile reports on new research suggesting that between 2000 and 2013, 58 percent of Portland's previously low-income neighborhoods gentrified. This puts Oregon's largest city ahead of Washington, DC, which comes in second with a 52 percent gentrification rate. The researchers used median income and median home price data from Census tracts to determine if an upmarket shift occurred in eligible neighborhoods.
Some Portland-area commentators report "chatter about the city becoming 'a playground for wealthy people.'" The article acknowledges ongoing debate around gentrification, and cites experts who claim it should be considered on a city-by-city basis. A list of the nine most gentrified metro areas in the U.S. accompanies the discussion.
Another notable takeaway is that Los Angeles hosts the nation's two most gentrified individual neighborhoods. They are Downtown, with a 579 percent jump in median home prices since 2000, and the Jewelry District, with a staggering 1,365 percent increase.
Read the full story: Portland is the most gentrified city of the century
SROs Are Getting People Off the Streets in Portland
Single-room-occupancy hotels are providing much-needed affordable housing for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Retrofitting Cities with Accessory Dwelling Units Is a Win-Win
Expensive West Coast cities are looking to these alternative and add-on structures to ease their housing challenges.
Parsing a Portland Rent Check to See Where the Money Goes
A deep dive into what a Portland rent check pays for sheds light on strategies to help lower rising rents.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello