Doctoral Dissertation Research: Race, Entrepreneurship, and Urban Revitalization

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The past two decades have seen a period of urban transformation guided by a reliance on gentrification to improve cities, which has both costs and benefits. However, few studies examine the ways that local small businesses fare in the context of gentrification. This project investigates how gentrification-based redevelopment impacts urban black-owned businesses compared to urban white-owned businesses. Considering that neighborhood conditions, especially in cities, are shaped by the commercial enterprises that serve the community, understanding the varied experiences of black business-ownership and white business-ownership during redevelopment will inform public discourse regarding wealth attainment, employment, and neighborhood conditions. Furthermore, this project will have practical implications for public policies aiming to encourage more inclusive redevelopment programs and to develop infrastructure that will more effectively support commercial and residential retention. This project employs a mixed-method design to address three research questions. First, the U.S. Census: Survey of Business Owners (SBO) is used to answer questions regarding the spatial and temporal trends in black and white business development in Detroit, Michigan between 1997 and 2012. These data will be used to illustrate and compare businesses in size, number of paid employees, and receipts. Second, archival material from two prominent Detroit newspapers published between 1997 and 2018 are used to examine how the incorporation of black-owned businesses in media accounts of redevelopment compare to the incorporation of white-owned businesses. Finally, through in-depth, qualitative interviews and ethnographic observation, this project investigates how black and white business-owners differ in the ways they perceive and negotiate access to and ownership over local business resources, such as capital investment, consumers, and networks.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.