There goes our family friendly neighborhood: Residents’ perceptions of institutionally driven inner-city revitalization in Buffalo, NY

ABSTRACT

This article examines residents’ perceptions of inner-city revitalization in legacy cities. The analysis focuses on neighborhoods undergoing revitalization in a legacy city, Buffalo, NY. The article draws from data for a larger research project called Turning the Corner which was sponsored by the Urban Institute. The focus of that project was to identify planning strategies to address negative externalities caused by neighborhood change and heightened risks of displacement due to revitalization. Data were collected through a series of focus groups with residents and stakeholders in working-class, minority neighborhoods which were identified as being in the early stages of revitalization. Two findings emerged from the analysis. First, residents perceived urban revitalization to have a destabilizing effect on traditional neighborhoods. Second, residents perceived revitalization as detrimental to the sustainability of family-friendly neighborhoods. Insights from the analysis are used to prompt planners’ advocacy for revitalization strategies aimed at protecting minority, working-class neighborhoods when institutionally driven revitalization occurs.

KEYWORDS:

• Neighborhood revitalization
• eds and meds
• residential displacement
• family friendliness

Acknowledgments

We thank the editors of the Journal of Community Practice and the two blind reviewers for comments on an earlier version of this article. Work that provided the basis for this article was supported by a research grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. The data for this analysis were drawn from a larger national effort titled Turning the Corner: Monitoring Neighborhood Change for Action, a project guided by the Urban Institute’s National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership and the Funders’ Network Federal Reserve-Philanthropy Initiative. Launched in January 2016, the project piloted a research model that monitors neighborhood change, drives informed government action, and supports displacement prevention and inclusive revitalization. Local teams in Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and the Twin Cities conducted independent research to understand neighborhood change and displacement risk in their communities. The Urban Institute, funded by the Kresge Foundation, is synthesizing lessons across the five cities. For more information, see http://www.neighborhoodindicators.org/turningthecorner.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Mallach (2018) attributes black middle-class flight to the relative differences in the quality of housing and public schools between core cities and suburbs. The analysis in this article identifies similar considerations, along with related neighborhood amenities, that feed into perceptions of family unfriendliness. Although the issue of family unfriendliness that emerged in this analysis was based on the perceptions of respondents who were predominantly minority group members, it is beyond the scope of this article’s finding to specify its racial and ethnic dimensions. Future research is necessary to measure variability across racial and ethnic groups related to community perceptions of family friendliness as it pertains to the neighborhood revitalization process.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation [n/a].