Date of Award

Spring 5-1-1990

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Geography, Geology, and Anthropology

First Advisor

Robert W. Bastian

Second Advisor

Walter Sullins

Third Advisor

William D. Brookes

Abstract

The study investigates the existence of a commercial form of gentrification. Seventeen characteristics of residential gentrification--developed empirically by researchers of that process--are advanced as working hypotheses and tested in Broad Ripple, Indiana. Methodology includes a questionnaire, direct interviews, and various other data sources. The research concludes that commercial gentrification exists, and is a private-market process which expands via contagious spatial diffusion. The study area was one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, had a unique physical character, was in a favorable location for commercial activity, was accessible to its market, contained sound, available, and affordable structures, and experienced a rapid increase in property costs, thereby offering significant profits to owners. Affected businesses and store owners were urban-oriented, and tended to own their buildings. Business owners tended to be white, relatively young, high-income earning, highly educated professionals. The owners also had more children and a higher rate of divorce than expected. The commercial gentrification process found in the study area conformed to a three-stage model.

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