title: "Weak-Center" Gentrification and the Contradictions of Containment: deconcentrating poverty in downtown Los Angeles.
abstract: This case study of recent efforts to deconcentrate poverty within the Skid Row area of Los Angeles examines processes of "weak-center" gentrification as it applies to a "service dependent ghetto," thus filling two key gaps in prior scholarship. We document the collaboration between the government, business and development interests, and certain non-profit agencies in this process and identify two key mechanisms of poverty deconcentration: housing/service displacement and the criminalization of low income residents. Following Harvey, we argue that these efforts are driven by pressures to find a "spatial fix" for capital accumulation through Downtown redevelopment. This process has been hotly contested, however, illustrating the strength of counter-pressures to gentrification/poverty deconcentration within "weak-center" urban areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of California.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reese
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: DeVerteuil
authors.forename: Leanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thach
mesh_terms: D057217:Economic Development / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000208:ethnology; D011057:Politics; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011640:Public Policy / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012924:Social Conditions / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012940:Social Problems / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D014504:Urban Health / Q000266:history; D014505:Urban Population / Q000266:history