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Posts published by “Robert Gorrill”

Anti-gentrification resistance: Rent-control, public space and houselessness

Anti-gentrification movements exist in a multitude of forms in most cities across the US.  While these movements have been unable to stop the decline in the quantity of rent-controlled dwellings, they have slowed it. In cities with a history of strong tenant movements like New York and San Francisco, anti-gentrification…

Causes and mechanisms of gentrification— A process inherent to capitalism

Throughout recent decades U.S. cities have been transformed. Urban demographics are profoundly changing. Historically Black and Brown communities and working–class neighborhoods are becoming whiter and wealthier. Low–cost housing has been demolished and replaced with luxury housing. Economies have shifted, with the demise of mom–n–pop shops and manufacturing, to the opening…

Olympia’s housing crisis cannot be solved by market capitalism

Density is heralded as the key to Olympia’s future. With density, so the argument goes, Olympia’s housing crisis can be resolved and the projected influx of some 20,000 people over the coming decades can be accommodated. Density, in theory, entails ecological and social benefits to cities. However, the rhetoric of…