Rezoning, Real Estate, and The Dynamics of Displacement in Inwood

Author

Damaly Gonzalez, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

9-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

John Krinsky

Subject Categories

Community-Based Learning | Inequality and Stratification | Place and Environment | Politics and Social Change | Public Administration | Public Policy | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Social Policy | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Keywords

urban sociology, urban studies, urban planning, financialization of housing, rezoning, real estate, displacement, gentrification in New York City

Abstract

This thesis asks how New York City’s rezoning process combine with the dynamics of real-estate sales to create displacement pressures for low-income communities of color. A case study of the recent rezoning of Inwood, a neighborhood in upper Manhattan, in August 2018, will help to illustrate these dynamics. Through an analysis of building sales and extreme rent inflation embedded in a historical and contemporary analysis of zoning and the influence of real-estate developers and owners on these processes, this thesis paints a dire picture of the risks faced by the mostly-Dominican-American renters in Inwood. The principal contribution of the thesis lies both in the assembly and analysis of the building-sales and rent data, and in the focused, neighborhood-level analysis of what are often larger, more abstract debates in contemporary studies of housing policy and urban dynamics.

Recommended Citation

Gonzalez, Damaly, "Rezoning, Real Estate, and The Dynamics of Displacement in Inwood" (2019). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3362