Lean Urbanism and Gentrification

A recent article by Robert Steuteville raises significant questions about the ways we have come to think about revitalization of neighborhoods.  The article has direct relevance to Lexington, particularly the North Side.  While I do not agree with all the details in the article, and might quibble with some of the underlying assumptions, one paragraph struck me as particularly relevant:

I make a distinction therefore between revitalization that is desirable and necessary to avoid economic collapse and gentrification — when the truly rich arrive — that prices out the working class and poor.

How do we, as a community, distinguish between ” revitalization that is desirable” and “gentrification”?  The way we answer that question will make all the difference in the world to the people who presently live in the predominately low-income neighborhoods in our community.

Steuteville suggests that “lean urbanism” is one helpful way to think about this complex set of issues, and he lays out in the article some of the principles and provides a few examples of what lean urbanism might mean in practice.

Feel free to comment online, but if you would also like to be included in a larger, informal, face-to-face conversation about the article and its possible implications for Lexington, email me at skay@lexingtonky.gov.