Published: Jan. 22, 2021
Man standing in front of brick wall next to photo of ghetto

Dr. Lance Freeman
Professor in the Urban Planning
Columbia University

Friday, January 22th at 1:30PM MT
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Abstract

The increased prevalence of gentrification across many US cities has generated anxiety among residents of gentrifying neighborhoods and piqued the interest of scholars of neighborhood change. The fate of the residents who were already living in such gentrifying neighborhoods鈥揺ither by choice or lack thereof鈥搑emains an important yet little understood outcome of the gentrification process. In this study, we will build on past research on the effects of gentrification by using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to assess mobility patterns in gentrifying census tracts in US cities. We focus on the destinations of residents of gentrifying neighborhoods as this aspect of the gentrification process has been little studied. One study of gentrification in Philadelphia did examine the residential destinations of those who moved and found disadvantaged residents of gentrifying neighborhoods moving to worse neighborhoods. We build on the findings of the Ding et al. study by using the PSID to extend their analyses to gentrifying neighborhoods across the US. We utilize the geocoded version of the PSID which allows us to identify the census tract of each respondent. With data spanning back to 1968, the PSID allows for a rich analysis of mobility patterns in the wake of gentrification.

Bio

Lance Freeman is a Professor in the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University in New York City. His research focuses on affordable housing, gentrification, ethnic and racial stratification in housing markets, and the relationship between the built environment and well-being.听 Professor Freeman teaches courses on community development, housing policy and research methods.听 He has also taught in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.听 Prior to this, Dr. Freeman worked as a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, a leading social policy research firm in Washington D.C.听 Dr. Freeman holds a Masters degree and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.听听

Dr. Freeman has published several articles in refereed journals on issues related to neighborhood change, urban poverty, housing policy, urban sprawl, the relationship between the built environment and public health and residential segregation. Dr. Freeman is the author of the book There Goes the Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up by Temple University Press and A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black America by Columbia University Press. Dr. Freeman also obtained extensive experience working with community development groups while working as a Community Development coordinator for the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development and as a Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Freeman also has professional experience working as a City Planner for the New York City Housing Authority, and as a budget analyst for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.