2024-05-15T14:58:34-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150138717/the-fate-of-chinatowns-can-they-survive-displacement-and-gentrification Katherine Guimapang 2019-05-29T09:00:00-04:00 >2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/9c/9ceb4a491c158bf5bfd636a4c2d7555f.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>The specter of unwanted change has loomed over a quiet corner of Seattle&rsquo;s Chinatown-International District for nearly the past four years. [...] Displacement is a genuine concern in Network cities, which, in addition to Seattle, include Boston, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Toronto.</p></em><br /><br /><p>Several city staples like&nbsp;<a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/80156/chinatown" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chinatowns</a> are facing the effects of <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/18658/gentrification" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gentrification</a> and urban displacement. "White populations in Chinatowns grew faster, for example, than the overall white populations in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, according to a <a href="https://www.aaldef.org/uploads/pdf/Chinatown%20Then%20and%20Now%20AALDEF.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">study by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund</a>. The study also found that, though Asian Americans remain the largest ethnic groups in those Chinatowns, they no longer represented a clear majority."&nbsp;</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/15/15cf255ed870a2cd7399d638899002fc.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/15/15cf255ed870a2cd7399d638899002fc.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Pacific Herb &amp; Grocery, Chinatown International District, Seattle. Image &copy; Curtis Cronn</figcaption></figure><p>Demographic transformations are rapidly growing throughout these "Network cities," which result in areas like Chinatowns to be vulnerable to gentrification, luxury development, and displacement. Using the city of <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/7932/seattle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seattle</a> as an example, a <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/HALA/SLU_DOWNTOWN/Urban%20Design%20Study%20-%20MHA%20DTSLU%20Implementation.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">city study</a>&nbsp;revealed that in 2016 the Chinatown-International District plus Little Saigon to the east had experienced redevelopment in some way. Already surrounded by an influx of transit hubs and sports stadiu...</p>