Gentrification - Origin and Etymology

Origin and Etymology

Gentrification has happened since ancient times; in Britain large villas were replacing small shops by the third century. The word gentrification is of much later origin. It derives from gentry, which is derived from the Old French word genterise denoting "of gentle birth" (14th c.) and "people of gentle birth" (16th c.); which in England (Landed gentry) denoted the social class, consisting of gentlemen. An early reference to the word "gentrification" can be found in "Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society", written in 1888. In 1964 the British sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term "gentrification" to denote the influx of middle-class people to cities and neighbourhoods, displacing the lower-class worker residents; the example was London, and its working-class districts such as Islington:

One by one, many of the working class neighbourhoods of London have been invaded by the middle-classes — upper and lower. Shabby, modest mews and cottages — two rooms up and two down — have been taken over, when their leases have expired, and have become elegant, expensive residences ... Once this process of 'gentrification' starts in a district it goes on rapidly, until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.

In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report Health Effects of Gentrification defines the real estate concept of gentrification as "the transformation of neighbourhoods from low value to high value. This change has the potential to cause displacement of long-time residents and businesses ... when long-time or original neighborhood residents move from a gentrified area because of higher rents, mortgages, and property taxes. Gentrification is a housing, economic, and health issue that affects a community's history and culture and reduces social capital. It often shifts a neighbourhood's characteristics, e.g., racial-ethnic composition and household income, by adding new stores and resources in previously run-down neighbourhoods."

In the Brookings Institution report Dealing with Neighbourhood Change: A Primer on Gentrification and Policy Choices (2001), Maureen Kennedy and Paul Leonard say that "the term 'gentrification' is both imprecise and quite politically charged", suggesting its redefinition as "the process by which higher income households displace lower income residents of a neighbourhood, changing the essential character and flavour of that neighbourhood", so distinguishing it from the different socio-economic process of "neighbourhood (or urban) revitalization", although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.