For some it is a dirty word and a harmful process on where they live. But for others it is an opportunity to improve their lot in life.
Gentrification causes significant debate in most growing cities, particularly in Bristol.
And it is far more than bistro cafes, hipsters and expensive coffee. Gentrification forces people out of neighbourhoods they and their family have lived in for generations as rents rocket to make the most of its new found popularity.
It can also hit businesses that no longer fit the local demographic hard and are also forced to relocate.
But what is gentrification, why does it happen and can you recognise when it starts to take place?
What is gentrification
The term gentrification is generally used to describe changes to a typically urban area when more affluent residents move in.
This is often due to either new housing developments, business growth or an expansion of a neighbouring affluent area.
While measuring and predicting gentrification is not an exact science, there are several, indicators associated with the process.
These include factors such as house prices, average earnings, levels of deprivation and changes to social class.
When is gentrification happening? The stages
Leading housing academic Philip Clay from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surmised there were four stages to an area becoming gentrified.
Stage one - Pioneering
Higher income individuals move into neglected or even abandoned areas - but with potentially desirable or historic architecture, and start to renovate homes. These are typically design professionals and artists who have the skills and money to do this as banks are unwilling to lend for properties in areas that have such little value.
Current occupants remain and are unaffected by the current trend.
Stage two- Increasing potential
More higher earners move into the area to renovate homes. Estate agents start to promote the area as 'up and coming' and speculation might occur from small scale developers, renovating homes for sale or to let.
Rents begin to rise and banks become more willing to lend.
Stage three - Insular tactics
Those that have moved into the area become more organised, arranging historic preservation groups, as well as business and neighbourhood associations.
The media become interested in the area and highlight it for its advances on previous years. Pressure grows on the police to enforce more 'social' behaviour in the area which might include new by-laws on driving and drinking.
Developers may start carrying out bigger scale developments which often come with renewal of significant visual areas in the neighbourhood, such as parks, paths and squares.
House prices start to escalate considerably and as a result so do rents, forcing the displacement of lower-earners from the area as there well-maintained homes are now highly-sought after and land lords want to take advantage, which can cause tension.
Stage four - Escalation
Large numbers of properties are now getting gentrified and considerable numbers of middle class people are moving in. Non-residential buildings are now being converted to meet residential demand while long empty buildings held for speculation are put up for sale or developed.
Small and specialised, often upmarket, shops and services pop up on high streets. As a result house prices and rents rise even further and more displacement takes place.
Many landlords are now not local and perhaps not even in the country and as a result of the growing demand new areas are identified for gentrification in the city, where this process starts again.
Gentrification in Bristol
The issue is never far from the headlines in Bristol.
In July a young Bristol writer with his book Bristol: Gentrification and Us.
Henry Palmer started researching the issue after becoming 'uncomfortable' about the lack of intergration with people living in St Pauls with the middle class people arriving or now visiting the area as it became more popular.
“What I didn't like was the lack of integration with the locals, so it got me thinking." he said.
"I began to look into it, so then I stumbled across a term named studentification and I came across this literature and academia on the students being the first to explore new grounds.
“This is also what happened in 60s St Paul’s, claims the book Endless Pressure by theorist Ken Price. It’s the same sort of fascination of students with these more deprived areas.”
And back in 2018 a Bristol mum blamed gentrification for not being able to find a place to live in her neighbourhood anymore.
After 20 years in Bedminster she faced being made homeless as private landlords did not want her as a tenant because, despite having enough money they would not take her on as she was on benefits.
In June Bristol Live carried out an investigation into neighbourhoods that have experienced gentrification the most in the last 15 years.
While measuring and predicting gentrification is not an exact science, there are several, indicators associated with the process - such as house prices, average earnings, levels of deprivation and changes to social class - that can be measured.
Bristol Live has looked at the statistics for different areas of the city going back as far as 2001 in order to gauge which neighbourhoods have seen the most improvements.
Gentrified wards - the full list
1 // Clifton Down
2 // Bishopston and Ashley Down
3 // Stoke Bishop
4 // Clifton
5 // Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze
6 // Southville
7 // Cotham
8 // Central
9 // Brislington West
10 // Windmill Hill
11 // Bedminster
12 // Ashley
13 // Horfield
14 // Bishopsworth
15 // Henbury and Brentry
16 // Easton
17 // Stockwood
18 // Brislington East
19 // Frome Vale
20 // St George Troopers Hill
21 // Hengrove and Whitchurch Park
22 // Knowle
23 // Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston
24 // Southmead
25 // Lockleaze
26 // St George Central
27 // Filwood
28 // Eastville
29 // Hillfields
30 // Hartcliffe and Withywood
A full rundown of the figures can be found here.
