Shelter is one of the most basic of human needs, and housing can speak greatly of its inhabitants. Housing speaks not only to socioeconomic background, but also to ethnicity and culture, architectural taste, and the value to which the homeowner places on nearby (or not so nearby) amenities. In a world where we are always told not to judge a book by its cover, it is almost impossible to pass by a house without passing judgments about the building itself or who we assume to inhabit it. In a city, especially, the vast range of housing provides tremendous insight into who lives behind the walls.

I am interested in researching housing, and in particular how gentrification affects not only those living in or forced out of a home, but also the culture of the city as a whole. Architecture has always been fascinating to me, and I am an avid viewer of many HGTV (Home and Garden TV) house hunting and renovation shows. In my hometown of Boston, I am always amazed by the multi-million dollar renovations of old buildings, and equally amazed by the displacement of the lower-class people that used to call that swanky new condo home. My mother is a public policy advocate for a homeless shelter for low-income women in Boston, so issues of poverty and low-income housing have always been on the forefront of my family’s and my political agendas.

Portland, like any up-and-coming city, is becoming a more desirable place to live, and realty prices are skyrocketing. As neighborhoods begin to change in price and cultural makeup, I am curious as to how that affects the longtime residents. I want to research where the fishermen and other laborers of the port live, and I am interested to see their perceptions of how this emergence of a hip, foodie city is affecting their industry and way of life. One of Lefebvre’s quotes in the Hayden article spoke to me about this subject: “‘Every society in history has shaped a distinctive social space that meets its intertwined requirements for economic production and social reproduction’”(19). This intertwined economy and society that Lefebvre speaks of is changing in Portland, with the economy being the fixed variable and society being the changing one, and I want to see how that change is affecting the “social space” as a whole.

The “inequality of access to the city” (27) as evidenced by the drastic difference in the size of predominately black and white neighborhoods from Hayden’s study of mental maps encourages me to try similar tactics. Mental maps from Portland’s residents can provide an accurate image (literally) of their perceptions of the city. I would like to find a way to use mental maps of Portland to show the effect of gentrification on the city’s society and economy. I am looking forward to trying a completely new kind of research, and I look forward to being in the midst of this city’s very exciting development.