'From the Frying Pan to the Oven': Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of gentrification on industrial displacement. Although urban manufacturing centres are not as central to the urban economy as they once were, they still house a vibrant and varied manufacturing sector that serves urban niche markets and provides employment for a less-educated and largely immigrant and minority workforce. As urban neighbourhoods gentrify, these manufacturers are faced with displacement because their space has become attractive to developers who convert lofts into residences. This paper looks at the process of gentrification and the experience of industrial displacement in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, in order to challenge existing theories on the impacts of gentrification and thus help to make clear the processes and interests at work. Through buy-outs, lease refusals, zoning changes and increasing rents, small manufacturers are being actively displaced, endangering the diversity of the economy and the employment outcomes of unskilled and immigrant workers.