Explain gentrification and its typical spatial consequences.

• A. Upward upgrading of high-income neighborhoods by public investment, increasing affordability
• B. Inward upgrading of low-income neighborhoods by higher-income groups, often displacing long-term residents
• C. Peripheral development with no displacement
• D. Decline of property values after new development

Answer: (B)

Gentrification is the process of higher-income residents moving into a historically lower-income urban neighborhood, triggering a rapid upgrading of housing and amenities financed by rising property values. This inward upgrading tends to push rents and property taxes up, which can displace long-time residents and alter who the neighborhood serves. The spatial consequences include a clear shift in the neighborhood’s socioeconomic makeup, changes in land use and storefronts toward goods and services favored by newer residents, and often a reduction in affordable housing. The description here captures the key pattern: wealthier in-movers driving upgrade with displacement. The other options miss this dynamic—public investment that increases affordability, peripheral development with no displacement, or declining property values after new development—none of which aligns with the typical spatial outcomes of gentrification.