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Perspective

Does Innovation Equal Gentrification?

Fears of displacement often accompany efforts to create urban innovation districts. They shouldn’t.
With the right plan, Philadelphia's innovation hub could offer an opportunity to engage low-income residents.
With the right plan, Philadelphia's innovation hub could offer an opportunity to engage low-income residents. Charles Mostoller/Reuters
By
Jennifer Vey

There it was: the gentrification question, in at number five.

It gets asked at nearly every event at which I speak about innovation districts. Sometimes it feels like an accusation, underpinned by a somewhat paradoxical assumption that innovative economic growth in cities will inevitably have a destructive impact on poor residents.