Gentrification: Ideas to Action ft. The Death & Life of Gentrification

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.

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.

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