Gentrification: Ideas to Action

Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities for the launch of the Gentrification & Urban Displacement Lab (GUDL) – a new hub bringing together faculty, students, practitioners, and community partners committed to understanding urban change, culture, and inequality. At the center of the launch is a discussion of Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino’s important new book, The Death and Life of Gentrification. Brown-Saracino explores how the term “gentrification” has evolved far beyond Ruth Glass’s original meaning – shifting from a description of neighborhood change to a socially charged metaphor for cultural appropriation, upscaling, and the loss of authenticity. Drawing on film, literature, journalism, and art, the book illuminates how gentrification has become a lens through which we understand transformations in everyday life and popular culture. Ultimately, the book asks what gentrification means today and calls us to consider how scholarly debate about gentrification contributed to the term’s new life as a metaphor. Brown-Saracino will be joined by Karilyn Crockett (MIT), Lawrence Vale (MIT), and Stephanie Ternullo (Harvard) for a conversation on the book and its implications. Following the discussion, the program will feature lightning talks showcasing recent BU research on gentrification and displacement, and next steps for GUDL.

When 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm on 4 February 2026
Building Rajen Kilachand Center, 610 Commonwealth Avenue, Colloquium Room, Boston, MA 02215