Christofer Smith 1

Christofer Smith
Dr. Hudson
4/24/17
PS 1010
Reflective Essay

Despite living in Detroit my whole life, by working on solving displacement by

gentrification I realized I knew very little about the topic. For an example I did not know the

different groups affected by the displacement. I had never considered that displacement could

damage local education or businesses, I only knew that it forced people out of their homes. Seeing

the impact of gentrification is very important, originally, I only saw gentrification as pushing out

people but now I know it attacks public education, the local economy, and even the health of

residents. And seeing how Wayne State students individually had very little power to impact

displacement was a heart breaker, I never considered the transiency of the students being a serious

problem in implementing solutions for displacement by gentrification. In addition, I never knew of

government efforts to combat Gentrification or how integration was a solution to the displacement

caused by gentrification. Overall I did not know anything other than what everyone says about

gentrification, calling it bad but not explaining why. I plan to stay involved in the issue of

displacement by gentrification but I do not believe I will continue to work to fix the issue. Moving

into the next few years I do not believe I will have enough time to devote to this issue and still do

good in class. But if I do get the chance I will advocate for integration in communities targeted by

gentrification versus the segregation called for by some gentrifying agents and attempt to develop a

structural solution to displacement. I do not know where I can get the help needed to work on my

issue but hopefully the honors college can help me with this. After this project, my perception of

groups for projects has changed completely. I have never been a big fan of group work, as much I
 Christofer Smith 2

love the idea of forcing strangers into close-proximity with me asking them to do assignments while

dealing with me seemed to be asking too much. But after working with my groupmates Zahin, Lilly,

Ben, and Winston this year, I see the glory and power behind working in a group you like and trust.

Ive never been more confident in a class group than I am with my current PS1010 group. The only

con is that after coming to know each other so well Im invested in my group members and dont

want to let them go. The skill that was the most important in this project was the ability to research,

I need this to function later as an academic. I hesitate to mention other skills because I dont

know if you would call them skills: I learned to view problems as wicked, see the power

relationships between institutions, and understand the political values held by others. I do not want

to call these skills because analyzing value structures will not be pertinent in my immediate future,

but if I want to influence others around me I need to understand their values and the power

relationships between institutions. After researching displacement by gentrification, I see

gentrification differently, I always thought gentrification was displacement, that the only way to

improve places was to remove the lower income community. However, I have learned that while

displacement may occur with economic revitalization, revitalizing an area does not have to come at

the cost of lower income residents homes. In addition, Also Ive become more nervous to argue

about the racial and diversity component of displacement, race is hard to identify as being a specific

target of displacement but socioeconomic status is easily argued. Loss of diversity is hard to argue

because others argue that the introduction of a new middle class family in the community is income

diversity in the community breaking up homogenized low income groups. However, you can argue

that there are cultural elements in a low-income population that are. lost with the displacement of

residents.