Visualizing Gentrification in 9 Cities

In The Atlas of Gentrification, designer Herwig Scherabon looks beyond "the migration of hipsters" to expose the nuances of gentrification in cities around the U.S. and U.K.

Inspired by the author's observations in London, Chicago, and San Francisco, the atlas also studies New York; Boston; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles; Detroit; and Glasgow.

These cities were chosen because they each have a different issue at the core of their gentrification stories, he says; while it’s sky rocketing rents in London, it’s racial segregation in Chicago, forced evictions in San Francisco and so on. These issues make the movement, displacement and replacement of people in each city uniquely nuanced.

In the U.K., for instance, the atlas connects changes in the housing market to the rise of Margaret Thatcher. A section on the racialized income inequality in Chicago reads, "Beneath the anger lie deep racial divides, decades-old, and often the direct result of public policy."

While some primary research was conducted in Glasgow, the book relies primarily upon government data and publicly accessible research.

Scherabon has also received recognition for his visualizations of income inequality in Los Angeles and Chicago. The Atlas of Gentrification is not yet published.