How did you put the toolkit together? Where do you start on a project like this?
The first thing we did was get acclimated to the term “gentrification,” and understand what has already been written about it. So it was a lot of pre-interview research. We wrote a primer specifically about gentrification, in part to ask ourselves, “How do we want to define gentrification? What are the things that we really care about?”
From there, we constructed a couple of focus groups of people [living and working] in LA and New York. Through that process, which took a couple of months, Studio ATAO compiled notes trying to tease out not only how business owners and local residents are experiencing gentrification and the issues that they’re experiencing, but also what they have done about it.
Why are restaurants such a common symbol in discussions about gentrification?
Restaurants are places of community. They are such an important cornerstone of the vibrancy of a neighborhood. Sometimes people act like the folks in gentrifying areas just don’t want any change and that’s not true. Most people want nicer paved streets and street lights and infrastructure support, and they also want more options. It’s not that folks in these areas are like, “You know what, I would like to have two places to eat forever.” It’s like, “No, we want lots of places to eat, we just want them to be affordable, we want them to feel welcoming.”
I think as part of that, people become—and rightfully so—nervous about a new influx of food options in their neighborhood, because they see it as tied to this larger trend of change in their neighborhood. There’s a pretty strong correlation between gentrifying neighborhoods and the sudden influx of new healthier organic things catered to a more affluent demographic, which also appear in such stark contrast to what currently exists.
Say I’ve been running a restaurant for a few years and I notice the neighborhood I operate in is changing, and I’m worried that I’m part of the problem. What steps can I take right now to start lessening my negative impact?
I think one of the big themes that we sussed out when creating the toolkit is that a lot of folks are not actually completely clear on the histories behind a lot of these gentrifying areas. Truly understanding your specific neighborhood, why it developed the way it did, and also why it’s now changing the way it is—that’s the first step.
From there, it depends on your resource level. One of the restaurateurs that I interviewed, she had one day of the week where they had feedback sessions with free breakfast for everyone. So people can come in and simply just give them feedback. So maybe it’s hosting something like that so you can understand if what you’re offering is actually matching with what the community needs. Maybe it’s hosting a CSA pickup. Maybe what the community needs is an afterschool place for the children to get snacks.
