I am a retired city planner in my 70s. During the entire time I worked as a planner, I never saw a definition of “gentrification” that resembled the positive explanation you offered in your editorial “Keeping a community intact when ‘gentrification’ beckons” (April 10, TribLIVE).
The American Planning Association’s “Planners Dictionary” defines “gentrification” as “the rehabilitation and resettlement of low and moderate income urban neighborhoods by middle and high income professionals.” The positive definition provided in your editorial applies more to terms such as “renovation,” “redevelopment” and “rehabilitation,” which deal with restoring the physical or built environment and not the relocation and discouragement of existing residents.
Sheryl Stolzenberg
Squirrel Hill