Gentrification in Greenville County

It's hard to believe we're officially in the last quarter of the year!

One topic I've seen a lot more of in the news lately has been gentrification. The Greenville area has been recognized in many top 10 lists. Our region has experienced much growth over the past few decades, and like all things, development has trade-offs. Our county is estimated to grow from its current population of around 543,000 to over 700,000 by 2040. The question becomes, where do all these new people go? 

This brings up a lot of different issues. One of the big ideas talked about in this realm is gentrification. It's a term thrown around a lot that I still don't have a concise definition for after my ten years of community development work. As an attempt, I generally think about it as the process in which newcomers displace long-time residents through various social and economic pressures. You can see it playing out in some recent reporting from the Greenville News here. 

So far, we've not only seen this story play out in such stark terms in the Main Street Taylors area, but we don't know what the future holds. Frequently, people's opinions on these subjects are shaped by acute, immediate needs: a developer wants to do something you don't like, so we react. 

Greenville County is growing; therefore, these pressures will eventually arrive in Taylors. How we balance them will depend on how we can think about creative solutions when the time arises. I would encourage you to take some time to research the topic as a whole before you need to engage with it specifically in your context. 

You can check out a good explainer from Vox here or check out this video about gentrification architecture here.