Gentrification Conversation is a gallery of portraits and conversations about changing urban neighborhoods. The idea began in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans, but the issues surrounding poorer neighborhoods undergoing rapid cultural and developmental changes is prevalent throughout the US. While gentrification is happening in seemingly every city, productive conversations about it are not. We would love to see more neighborhoods hosting their own conversations.
This project started because there was a lot of talk about the changes taking place in the St. Roch community but not as much discussion with the St. Roch community about those changes. Neighborhoods are gentrifying across New Orleans, across cities in the US, and across cities around the world, but to hear individuals talk about these changes in a single neighborhood seems to be the only way to properly start this conversation.
Gentrification Conversation is not a website. It is first and foremost an in-person, real life, offline event centered around conversations and the physical act of entering into a space with the hope of exiting it more inclined to have a conversation, to get to know your neighbors, and to understand what makes a neighborhood unique.
If you are interested in more details about hosting your own conversations or have done similar work in your city - we'd love to hear about it! You can send us a note at gentrificationconversation@gmail.com.