Summary

Place-Making and Place-Taking: An Analysis of Green Gentrification in Atlanta, Georgia. This thesis paper by Aimée Oyinlade Okotie-Oyekan is an overview of how improving ecology in low-income communities leads to gentrification. There are many nuances. The paper looks into methods of improving a community’s ecology without driving up the price of homes. It focuses on Atlanta. Specifically, Grove Park. An upper North-Western section of Atlanta with majority Black residents. In Grove Park, 13% of residents live in poverty and 38% rent their living spaces. This is at least 51% of the population at extremely high risk of being outcompeted for housing. Not only that, these groups have been shown to be the most at-risk for harm from their environment. And now they are being kicked out when help arrives. This process is how those with lower incomes must live in a neighborhood with fewer trees, higher temperatures, etc. They are forced out of neighborhoods that do. Not only does this thesis talk about the present and future, it discusses the past. Things like the emancipated slaves who carved out the BellWood Quarry. They go over the beltline. “[H]ousing values rose between 17.9 percent and 26.6 percent more for homes within a half-mile of the Beltline than elsewhere”(Okotie-Oyekan, 2021). The thesis also takes a philosophical approach to if we can/should we own a lot of land. How much of “community” is based around public spaces.