Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

From Gentrification To Regeneration: A Grounded Theory Study Of Community Leadership In Southwest Atlanta, Carol Isaac, Arla Bernstein, Linda Behar-Horenstein

The Qualitative Report

Urban neighborhoods have undergone property disinvestment, a decreasing population, and a general economic decline. Atlanta, the fourth-fastest gentrifying city in the United States exemplifies this trend. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand how discourse about gentrification helps a community address its goal of regeneration. We used Habermas’ critical hermeneutic lens to investigate the perceptions of 20 resident leaders and stakeholders in a community that was undergoing the process of gentrification. Our findings illustrate that this community is fraught with systematically distorted communication that used communicative action for emancipation. The four theoretical codes: gentrification (a collision between …