Just so y'all know what has come out of this project...

The product that has emerged from Part I is a detailed Google Map of Northside property ownership as it currently stands. Overlaid on top of a satellite image of the Northside Neighborhood is a set of icons, each of which represents the property on top of which the icon is located. The houses represent instances of homeownership, the blue flags denote rental by an individual owner rather than a development company, and the dollar signs represent ownership by rental companies. When the icons are clicked on, a text bubble appears, within which further information is provided, including owner names, owner address in the case of rental properties, previous owners, property value, and other anecdotes of relevance. In collaboration with the Jackson Center for Saving and Making History at St. Joseph CME Church in the Northside, we hope to continue expanding and adding details to this map as the neighborhood continues to change, and as more interviews are conducted. The above image is just a small portion of the larger map.

The research conducted in Part II has resulted in two very complex flow charts. The first one, Potential Paths for Property Transfer in the Northside, examines all the different paths that a property owned by “traditional” residents can take as ownership is transferred. Between each potential transfer, there is a brief explanation of why that particular path is chosen.

The second flowchart, Real Estate Market Forces, takes all of the why’s from the previous flowchart and examines their causes, effects, and, ultimately, the complex and very interconnected ways that they reinforce each other—resulting in a visual explanation of the overall rise in housing prices and an overall decrease in traditional families and low-income residents within the neighborhood.

Finally, I compiled these into an animated powerpoint (complete with a detailed script) that puts the flowcharts under a microscope so to speak and examines the inevitability of each “node” in the charts. Through this exercise, it is possible to identify the steps within the cycle of gentrification that are not inevitable and thus provide a potential point of entry for intervention. The powerpoints ends with a set of proposed solutions and suggestions for future research and action. Hopefully this powerpoint can be used to provide wider understanding of the issue, but also to explore and gather support for political action.