Once upon a time, it used to be very easy to tell when gentrification was about to happen. It would always announce its impending arrival via huge red flags that people could see a mile away, whether it be the announcement of a new Starbucks opening right next to the mom and pop coffee shop or plans for a luxury development smack dab in the middle of a working class community. Naturally, as soon as the red flags appeared, everyone would stomp their feet and resist in protest or make a big stink in the press about what was about to happen.
After awhile, Big Development found itself in a quandary. Somehow, it had to kick start gentrification without sending out the type of red flags that would alert everyone into figuring out what it was doing. What resulted was one of the cleverest tactics of psychological warfare ever created in the development world–the Trojan Horse–and it works something like this:
Let’s say there’s a neighborhood in which public transportation has been grossly neglected for years, maybe even decades. Buses are frequently late, the bus stops are in complete shambles and the bus maps faded and falling apart. Residents have been bitterly complaining about these deplorable conditions for years, but no matter how much they do, the city just drags its feet pleading poverty or pretends to be looking into it while doing nothing in the process.
One day the city goes, “Great news, residents! We finally listened to you! We’re going to finally do all those repairs you asked for. We’re going to rebuild all the bus stops that have been falling apart and replace the old and faded bus maps.”
“But we’re going to do a whole lot more. We’re going to go above and beyond what you wanted. We’re going to launch a new fleet of energy-efficient, WiFi-enabled buses that use state of the art fare boxes that accept smart phones. The bus stops are going to be made of the finest fiberglass and steel, complete with computerized touchscreen maps that are easy to read and provide live updates of when each bus is due to arrive! And we’re going to have USB ports where you can charge your devices and everything. What’s more, you’ll be the very first neighborhood in the entire city to get all of these great improvements. Isn’t that awesome?”
Long-neglected residents rejoice and welcome the changes with open arms. Then, lo and behold–a year or two later after all the bus shelters, digital maps and other fancy shmancy gadgetry have been installed–gentrifiers start moving in by the droves. Predictably, property values go up. Mom and pops are driven out in favor of chain stores and high end retail, leading to an erasure of affordable options for local residents. Finally, a new luxury development is proposed, then two more, then five more. Now the residents, who’d been “blessed” by the city with changes to their bus route, are priced out of their own neighborhood.
On the surface, it all looks as if the gentrification was just an accident of major infrastructural upgrades, but in reality, the major upgrades were made out of the full understanding by Big Development that this type of expensive renovation would set in motion the very events that would lead to the entire area becoming gentrified.
This is Trojan Horse Development in a nutshell. It’s the art of tricking long time residents into accepting developments that seem to be benefiting them–usually under the banner of “urban renewal”–when they’re really designed to spur conditions that will pave the way for luxury development. The residents will be allowed to enjoy all of the new stuff that Big Development has “given them” for a few years. All the while, Big Development will be maneuvering behind the scenes to prep the area up for gentrification. By the time residents wake up and realize what’s happening, it’ll usually be too late to do anything about it. The neighborhood will have been rezoned by then, and the first of a number of buildings torn down to make way for a new luxury sky rise or other mega-development.
Besides pulling a classic bait and switch on residents, there’s another way that Trojan Horse Development makes it easier to gentrify neighborhoods that could pose a severe challenge to developers. It undermines any potential resistance to gentrification by creating a divide and conquer situation within a community.
How? Well, more often that not, when a Trojan Horse is proposed, you’ll have some very sharp members of the community who’ll instantly recognize it for what it is and start resisting immediately. But on the other hand, there’ll be the gullible fools who will really and honestly believe that developers and city planners have finally “answered” their prayers. Naturally, when the residents in the know start protesting any development project, the residents in the dark will start bitterly opposing them, calling them stupid, ungrateful, whiners, the whole nine yards.
For example, there may be a neighborhood that has always been lacking retail and jobs for decades. All of a sudden, a 20 story “urban renewal” development is proposed, promising to bring a Trader Joe, Walgreen, Starbucks and “more jobs” to help local area residents. As soon as the savvier residents complain about the threats of gentrification that these particular establishments will bring, there’ll be other members of the community ranting that they should stop looking a gift (Trojan) horse in the mouth and start kissing the developers’ asses for finally bringing development and jobs to the area after years of being ignored. It never dawns on any of the supporters that the proposed project is not meant for them but for the gentrifiers that developers hope to displace them with in a matter of years.
The Trojan Horse is a very effective strategy–so effective that it’s been instrumental in helping Gentrification make many inroads into many NYC working class and low income neighborhoods without fail. However, slowly but surely, more and more people are becoming wise to it, and are now fighting back against it in increasing numbers. For example, in 2003, when hotelier André Balazs wanted to build a tower in SoHo, Sean Sweeney, director of SoHo alliance, immediately denounced it as a Trojan Horse that was being used to turn back zoning laws that protected the neighborhood from gentrification.
More recently, residents of Brooklyn’s and Queen’s waterfront have been fighting against a proposed streetcar called the “BQX”, sensing full well that for all its charm and promises of helping to make commuting better for local residents, it’s just a sneaky ploy designed to gentrify the areas along its planned route.
All of this isn’t to say that you should always take a cynical stance against any ambitious development. After all, some projects are genuine attempts at urban renewal. It’s just that there’s a big difference between development that aims at fixing important issues and one that seems hell-bent on giving communities even more than they could’ve ever hoped or asked for. In other words, it’s one thing if the city decides to renovate a public park suffering from crumbling paths, dying trees, a rat infestation, a rusted playground and a dilapidated fence; it’s quite another if it proposes to fix all of those issues and build a nearby $500M ice skating rink and sports complex, complete with luxury restaurants and special shuttles that will bring visitors directly from the airport or some other major transit hub heavily used by tourists.
It’s usually this type of over the top, extravagant development that people need to be wary of. Whenever something like this comes down the pike, the last thing everyone should be thinking is, “Finally! Our prayers have been answered!” What everyone should be thinking , “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” or, better yet–
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”
