Reassessing Residential Preferences for Redevelopment

While scholars argue that redevelopment and gentrification result in large part from the unique preferences of middle-class residents moving to neighborhoods after decades of flight, almost all of this evidence is extrapolated from the behavior of residents already living in redeveloped neighborhoods. I argue that understanding the consequences of redevelopment, particularly urban policies advocating redevelopment, requires measuring the preferences for redeveloped neighborhoods among the broader metropolitan population. Using data from a representative sample of Chicago metropolitan area adults, I find that homeowners and renters differ in their patterns of preferences for redeveloped neighborhoods: city or suburban residence is more important for homeowners while race is a much stronger factor among renters. This reassessment of preference patterns highlights the potential for redevelopment policies to fall short of intended goals to attract investment and alleviate racial segregation.