Industrial gentrification in West Chelsea, New York: Who survived and who did not? Empirical evidence from discrete-time survival analysis

Abstract

This paper empirically tests the extent to which economic restructuring and gentrification affect viability and vulnerability businesses, with specific focus on arts and cultural industries in West Chelsea from 2000 through 2012. Based on the theoretical framework, gentrification stage model and adopting discrete-time survival analysis, we separately compare the risks of opening and closing between businesses established before/early stage of revitalisation (early-arrivers) and those established in the later stage (late-arrivers) within West Chelsea, versus their counterparts in the remainder of the study area in New York. We find that West Chelsea has been an advantageous location overall for late-arrivers in surviving in their market, while the early-arrived gallery and individual artists’ enterprises have faced a higher risk of their operations closing. On the other hand, a higher proportion of new gallery and arts and cultural industries remain attracted to West Chelsea after 2000, suggesting that firms in those industries may be benefiting from the agglomeration effects and localisation economies associated with colocation. The higher opening probability of lodging venues (e.g. hotels) and other amenities signals an overall transformation of the neighbourhood and influx of new uses (and visitors) observed during this time frame.

Gentrification, artists and the cultural economy

“…As noted above, the economic contribution of the new cultural economy to cities has changed in recent years. It is this new tension, and its economic implications that the over emphasis on both 'cultural' and the relative neglect of displacement of economic uses by high end residential developments, that needs more attention (for indicative studies see Curran 2004, Hutton, Catungal et al 2009, Curran 2010, Yoon and Currid-Halkett 2014.…”

“…To embrace the transformations wrought by the emergent cultural economy I want to argue that these debates need to be extended further. I will re-inforce a relatively neglected aspect of this new trend to include not just residential to residential 'upgrading' (classic gentrification), but also including transitions such as manufacturing to residential, manufacturing to cultural work, and cultural work to residential uses (see Zukin, Trujillo et al 2009, Curran 2010, Yoon and Currid-Halkett 2014, Hubbard 2016, Kim 2016. Displacement of less powerful actors by more powerful actors characterises these transitions, moreover it presages a cultural change, not simply one of consumption and identity (as already discussed in the gentrification literature), but also one of cultural production and cultural value(s) (Jung, Lee et al 2015, Grodach, Foster et al 2016.…”

Gentrification as an Emerging Source of Environmental Research

“…As previously stated, London was the first example of gentrification [14,16,[30][31][32][33][34]. Soon, however, this urban process was identified in other cities with a significant industrial heritage: New York [18,30,[35][36][37][38], Newcastle [39,40], Berlin [41,42], Milan [43,44] or Barcelona [45,46]. Since then, however, gentrification has expanded to become a global phenomenon and scholars shave analysed changes in neighbourhoods and cities around the world including Vancouver [47], Montreal [48], Chicago [49], Sydney [50] or Beijing [51,52].…”

“…Discussion about the definitions and concepts is timely and important because gentrification studies are currently facing a period of intensive reorientation, [15] and academic literature has been searching for the core of the definition. Some authors focus on the development of the industrial structure of cities [16][17][18]. A notable feature of the literature on gentrification considers social and cultural patterns and the background of changes in the shape of neighbourhoods [7,19,20].…”

Preventing the displacement of small businesses through commercial gentrification: are affordable workspace policies the solution?

“…Although economic restructuring has long been a feature of change in cities (see Giloth & Betancur, 1988), the use of the term 'commercial gentrification' (or industrial gentrification) 1 places emphasis on what happens to low-value businesses in this restructuring, and describes a process by which business are replaced by either higher value, more competitive businesses or more profitable residential conversion/redevelopment typical of the post-industrial era (for further definitions and explanations of industrial or commercial gentrification see Pratt, 2009;Yoon & Currid-Halkett, 2015). The familiar story is that the gap left by declining manufacturing and industry is filled by pioneering creative entrepreneurs, who are perceived to turn the neighbourhood around and make it a desirable.…”