Abstract:
Urban redevelopment, revitalization, renewal and gentrification are all terms used to define
reinvestment and middle class invasion into once abandoned, and disinvested communities.
While many of these terms mostly highlight the positive transformation that is brought by this
reinvestment and reinvasion, the term gentrification also highlights the accompanying negative
changes that are brought onto some of these communities’ low-income residents. Gentrification
is defined as the economic transformation of low-income disinvested communities into middle
and high-income communities resulting in the displacement of low-income residents (Lees,
Slater, and Wyly, 2010). After more than three decades of disinvestment, the Indianapolis
neighborhood of Fountain Square is currently experiencing a sudden flow of reinvestment and
redevelopment, placing many of its low-income residents at risk for displacement. Can lowincome
disinvested communities, such as Fountain Square, experience redevelopment that does
not result in the displacement of low-income residents? If yes, how? This paper investigates the
possibility and means to redevelop disinvested communities, such as the Fountain Square
neighborhood, without causing displacement of low-income residents.