Corruption, Community, and the Urban Project: An Anthropology of Gentrification in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Abstract

Gentrification is popularly defined as a trend in the development of urban neighbourhoods that results in increased property values, and the displacement of lower-income families and existing small businesses. As a way of developing neighborhoods through urban projects, private development companies argue that the “ends justify the means” in their quest to “renew” and “revitalize” a “blighted” neighbourhood. This thesis asks what happens to those in the footprint of a development project. Taking a 22-acre multi-use urban megaproject in Brooklyn as a privileged site for inquiry, it documents and analyzes the experience of residents in initial and subsequent phases of the development process. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with 28 individuals, the thesis argues that gentrification can be better understood by conceptualizing the social relations involved, in particular, those of corruption and community.