An Interdisciplinary Study of Neighborhood Change and Gentrification in Greenville: A Collaboration with the United Way of Greenville County

Greenville is undergoing rapid change. Some of the changes have landed the city on top-ten lists, including the Wall Street Journal, which described Greenville as, the artsy southern town that wants to be the next Portland. However, many residents, businesses, and community leaders are concerned that these changes are changing the cultural fabric of many neighborhoods and displacing long-time, local residents. Students and faculty from business and accounting, computer science, public health, sociology, and sustainability science collaborated with United Way of Greenville County (UWGC) to study these changes using both qualitative and quantitative methods to better prepare non-profit organizations to address evolving community needs and leverage local assets. Research questions include: 1) How have measures of poverty and need shifted historically and how do these trends help us prepare for future change? 2) Which neighborhoods are showing characteristics consistent with different stages of gentrification/displacement? 3) How are short-term and long-term residents perceiving and adapting to neighborhood change in neighborhoods at various stages of gentrification/displacement? 4) What are residents’ perceptions of in- and out-movement? 5) What employment and private sector investment opportunities are presently available in targeted communities? 6) How might UWGC and other organizations increase the effectiveness of the private sector to better meet community needs? 7) How might UWGC support the development and implementation of policies (transportation, housing, workforce development, etc.) to better meet community needs?Using an urban displacement typology developed by researchers at UC Berkeley, student researchers and Community-Engaged Learning Post-Baccalaureate Fellows (PBFs) analyzed census tracts in Greenville and surrounding counties and designated areas along a spectrum of gentrification including: 1) Not losing low-Income households; 2) At risk of gentrification; 3) Ongoing gentrification; 4) Advanced gentrification.The researchers then randomly selected urban and rural tracts at these different stages and conducted focus groups with residents and interviews with local businesses to better understand the local business landscape, displacement pressures, impact on community health, and trust within these neighborhoods.The researchers also collected 37 quantitative measures of community well-being from 1990-present to allow for analysis of changes over time. Example measures include the percentage of rent-burdened households, demographic data, median income, mix of housing stock, income inequality index, and other measures of financial, social, manufactured, and human capital. The data were aggregated to a common census tract (using Brown University’s Longitudinal Tract Database) and adjusted for inflation to allow for comparison. A student researcher developed an interactive web interface to allow researchers, community leaders, and community residents to more easily evaluate and map changes over time.In this session community partners from UWGC, student researchers, and PBFs will share their findings and recommendations, as well as reflect on opportunities and challenges associated with interdisciplinary, community-engaged research