Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Fashioning Gentrification: The New Role of Women as Entrepreneurs and Public Characters

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This dissertation will investigate the gentrification process in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Women entrepreneurs engaged in retail business selling stylish goods (clothing, accessories) may be an important early stage of gentrification. Because of this, a consumer culture of aesthetics may be an important element of neighborhood change, not just a consequence of the resulting gentrification. The research combines archival administrative records and census data with interviews with 50 women entrepreneurs and 40 others including neighborhood real estate interests, long-term store owners, and citizen activists. The results should form a narrative account of the new dynamics of neighborhood reinvestment that reflects the city's transition from a small manufacturing to a service base.