White flight? Suburbs lose young whites to cities

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

What urban sprawl? I don't see any city getting bigger, only more subdivisions. That is suburban sprawl.

White flight was wrong. I think gentrification will be good in the long run. I don't think historic neighborhoods should be torn down, and place-names should definitely be kept. But I don't think re-devolpement of urban areas should be halted just because poor people might have to move. Thtat's a pretty weak line of reasoning in my view.

Some cities (particularly, in the South) have plenty of space surrounding them. In the event that they don't, they sometimes take over some of the surrounding cities (IIRC, this happened in San Antonio and Houston).

And it's not necessarily just "dirt-poor" residents that are being displaced -- sometimes, it's "not-as-wealthy" people that are being moved.

[RU OX Alum]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Some cities (particularly, in the South) have plenty of space surrounding them. In the event that they don't, they sometimes take over some of the surrounding cities (IIRC, this happened in San Antonio and Houston).

And it's not necessarily just "dirt-poor" residents that are being displaced -- sometimes, it's "not-as-wealthy" people that are being moved.

Yeah but, in Virginia at least, it's a moot point. Cities aren't allowed to expand by law. They be reshaped, I think, but they have to stay the same size. They can't grow.

But leaving blight where it is doesn't solve the issue of blight either. So why not move it?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

Yeah but, in Virginia at least, it's a moot point. Cities aren't allowed to expand by law. They be reshaped, I think, but they have to stay the same size. They can't grow.

But leaving blight where it is doesn't solve the issue of blight either. So why not move it?

Virginia isn't really representative of many states, though.

And moving the issue around will work until another shift occurs. The goal should be getting to the root cause.

I think some people are forgetting that gentrification doesn't ALWAYS occur around "slums" or "hoods" -- sometimes, "not as wealthy" places are chosen as the "new urban meccas."