When Does Placemaking Become Gentrification?

Juliet Kahne from Project for Public Spaces talked about the effect of “Placemaking” and its importance to economic development, but it calls into question whether it drives out low-income families from city enclaves through accelerated gentrification. Kahne says gentrification and “public space” are simultaneously used in the media and planning language. The displacement of people overlooks the real social and economic forces that drive gentrification in urban neighbourhoods. Kahne says gentrification is not triggered by a single factor, it’s a development as a result of a complex set of factors like movement of capital, uneven production, and consumption of urban space. In short, “Placemaking” does not cause gentrification.