Editing Gentrification (section)

=== The upper-class ===
Research shows how one reason wealthy, upper-class individuals and families hold some responsibility in the causation of gentrification is due to their social mobility.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Hochstenbach |first1=Cody |last2=van Gent |first2=Wouter PC |title=An anatomy of gentrification processes: variegating causes of neighbourhood change |journal=Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space |date=July 2015 |volume=47 |issue=7 |pages=1480–1501 |doi=10.1177/0308518x15595771 |bibcode=2015EnPlA..47.1480H |s2cid=154447072 }}</ref> Wealthier families were more likely to have more financial freedom to move into urban areas, oftentimes choosing to do so for their work. At the same time, in these urban areas the lower-income population is decreasing due to an increase in the elderly population as well as demographic change.<ref name=":7" />

Jackelyn Hwang and Jeffrey Lin have supported in their research that another reason for the influx of upper-class individuals to urban areas is due to the "increase in demand for college-educated workers".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hwang |first=Jackelyn |date=2016 |title=What Have We Learned About the Causes of Recent Gentrification?|jstor=26328271 |journal=Cityscape |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=9–26}}</ref> It is because of this demand that wealthier individuals with college degrees needed to move into urban cities for work, increasing prices in housing as the demand has grown. Additionally, Darren P. Smith finds through his research that college-educated workers moving into the urban areas causes them to settle there and raise children, which eventually contributes to the cost of education in regards to the migration between urban and suburban places.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Darren P. |last2=Higley |first2=Rebecca |title=Circuits of education, rural gentrification, and family migration from the global city |journal=Journal of Rural Studies |date=January 2012 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=49–55 |doi=10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.08.001 |bibcode=2012JRurS..28...49S }}</ref>

Zukin examined gentrification through the lens of urban ''authenticity'', focusing on how perceptions of authentic urban experience drive neighborhood transformation in New York City. Through case studies of neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Harlem, she documents how the very qualities that make neighborhoods appear authentic to middle-class consumers—ethnic diversity, historic architecture, local businesses—ultimately disappear as these areas gentrify. Zukin identifies how media, consumer culture, and government policies combine to facilitate gentrification through the promotion of ''authentic'' urban experiences. She demonstrates that seemingly spontaneous processes of neighborhood change are actually shaped by specific policy decisions, real estate investments, and cultural capital. The book explicitly critiques Jane Jacobs' vision of neighborhood preservation, arguing that Jacobs failed to recognize how market forces would commodify the authentic urban experiences she championed. Zukin concluded by advocating for policies that preserve not just the built environment but also social diversity, suggesting that truly authentic urbanism requires both economic and cultural rights to the city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zukin |first=Sharon|title=Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780197562710}}</ref>