Daldongnae, also known as "slum" or "shanty town," is a small village located in South Korea. The village has houses built on highlands, and its name is associated with the moon in the night sky. The location on Incheon's high slopes provides a clear view of the moon, making it a unique feature of the village. However, the majority of residents in Daldongnae are low-wage workers or unemployed, with a higher proportion of poor residents than those living in rented apartments or newly built villas. Unfortunately, the residents of Daldongnae face many negative factors such as old buildings and unsanitary facilities, which deprive them of privacy and safety. The most severe problem faced by the residents is that they are being forced to move out to make way for gentrification. These areas are being removed because they are considered "aesthetically unpleasing." Nangok District, the last Daldongne in downtown Seoul, was designated as a redevelopment area in 1995 and has now been transformed into a luxury apartment complex 11 years later. The fate of the original residents who are forced to move out is unknown. However, it is likely that they will relocate to the suburbs and exurbs of South Korea.

These Daldongnes are not only located in South Korea. They are a ubiquitous issue that impacts every corner of our world. Living in slums not only negatively impacts the residents but also people who live outside of the slums. Poor living conditions in slum areas create contagious diseases and spread them to people living in the city. COVID-19, the deadly pandemic that has shaken the world, originated in a slum area with compacted houses in Wuhan, China. This shows that people cannot consider themselves safe just because they do not live in slum areas. A bat from this little slum area led the whole world to stop everything. People cannot consider themselves as ‘safe’ just because they are not the ones who are living in slum areas. While the total number of slum dwellers increased due to urbanization, the stake reached approximately 1.1 billion people living in slums or slum-like conditions in cities. 1.1 billion people are living in informal settlements which include unsafe (lack of windows, dirt floors, leaky walls/roofs) houses, weak structures that are often blown away or destructed during storms and earthquakes, and overcrowded houses that have limits in accessing basic services such as water, toilets, electricity, and transportation. The issue here is that the population in this world that could become victims of gentrification is continuously increasing. According to Concern Worldwide US by Kieran McConville, the global contest advisor, it is predicted that around 70% of people in this globe will reside in slum areas by 2050.

People are more reluctant to old and shaggy buildings than renovated buildings because they create an “uncomfortable mood”. The main reason why landowners try to force out their initial long-term residents is mainly to make their community aesthetically pleasing. Gentrification displaces established working-class communities in favor of wealthier newcomers and real estate development companies. They believe that the newly renovated community lowers the crime rate so it would rather positively impact the whole community by stabilizing the local economy.

Ray Tirado, a 58-year-old construction worker, is living in the heart of New York City, East Harlem. He has lived in the same apartment for five decades, and he sees how his old apartment is going to change with his bare eyes as a last tenant. The landlords didn’t wait for him to leave; they already started the destruction of the place around him. The landowner started to demolish pieces of furniture and wallpaper in each apartment house except for Ray’s place. There are lots of ways that owners are using to force long-term residents like Ray. “There are buyouts, pushouts, and there is harassment by construction.” The company led by Yi-Han, the landlord, offered Ray $800,000. However, the landlord never gave the $800,000 of money that she promised to give him. She only paid Ray $50,000 and he will probably never see the rest of the money and this is common when gentrification is taking place. Ray directly quoted “Sense of community, family, and familiarity is changing fast.” While many owners are resisting waiting for people like Ray, some use violence instead. A 28-year-old man called ‘Alex Nieto’ was shot in San Francisco where he spent his whole life while eating a burrito and tortilla chips in a hilltop park. The reason for his death is simply absurd. He died because a series of white men saw him as a threatening intruder in the place where he lived for his whole life just because he was wearing a red jacket and coming out from a shaggy house. Not only in the United States but also in Korea when the economic boom had not yet started, owners used metal baseball bats to beat long-term residents out if they refused to move out.

The term “gentrification” was first created in the 1960s by British sociologist Ruth Glass to describe the displacement of the working-class residents of London neighborhoods by middle-class newcomers. Starting from London’s 1950s and 1960s new apartment buildings, on a global scale, 9,743 neighborhoods were designated for gentrification until 2020. It does not mean that all 9,743 neighborhoods are successfully gentrified. If the renovated house is not sold or if it’s impossible to renovate, the landowners just decide to leave it as it is which negatively impacts health and the environment and makes gentrification a controversial issue. Usually, gentrification takes place when the price of houses increases along with an influx of trendy shops. An area that looks old and weakly structured is immediately designated for gentrification. Long-term residents living in these 9,743 neighborhoods needed to accept the fact that they should leave their houses just because it “does not fit”.

The image above addresses a group of people protesting the matter of Washington D.C. gentrification that happened in 2018. According to Charles Hostovsky, a Professor of Urban Planning at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., the speed of revitalization in D.C. is happening at a rapid rate. Every neighborhood has cranes, symbolizing new development. In 1970, the city was 77 percent African American. However, today, it's just 49 percent African American. "The number of people who have been displaced equals a small town." In the past decade, approximately 50,000 young, white millennials have moved into the city while 35,000 African Americans have left. The problems that come with gentrification are rising to the ground and now is the time that we should address it.

What type of fund drives gentrification? Banks and other financial institutions are companies that benefit from gentrification. They take the money from working-class and middle-class people and speculate a “better place to live”. For them to drag the rich people to move into freshly renovated buildings, it’s their responsibility to make the landowners do gentrification.

Gentrification is currently considered a matter of social justice. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with protests against systemic racism in 2020, highlighted the nation's pre-existing suffering from chronic poverty and economic distress. Recovery in areas like Khayelitsha in Cape Town and Dharavi in Mumbai seems impossible due to the public interest and investment in gentrification. Immediate action is necessary to address this issue.

One prominent example of why gentrification continues to happen can be seen in the case study of Savannah, Georgia. From 1965 and 1977, the property value in Georgia drastically increased by 276% which contributed to the community’s tax base ultimately leading it to revitalization. Does this mean that gentrification must take place if there is high property value?

Since gentrification itself is not illegal, in the status quo, there are no laws against gentrification. Some places are even trying to implement policies to mitigate the negative impacts of gentrification. What we are trying to say is that the process of gentrification is worse than its result because it goes against basic human rights. Instead of trying to completely ban gentrification, we should rather focus on the aftermath of gentrification.

In China, gentrification is viewed as a crucial element of creating a competitive, modern society. The government provides monetary compensation to locals when old buildings are demolished. The Chinese government provides financial help toward those who need assistance. However, citizens feel that the government should also address financial challenges. Similarly, in India, gentrification is prevalent. However, due to these government-led urban renewal initiatives and private real estate developments, a whopping 42% of individuals are forced to reside in slums. Iceland, on the other hand, has experienced gentrification in a unique way. Although Reykjavik, the capital city, has undergone significant changes due to tourism, increased investment, and shifting demographics, gentrification is not as pronounced as in other locations. As a result, many downtown residents have relocated to other areas of the city and are renting out their properties to tourists. This highlights the fact that even though the government in Iceland does not directly force their citizens to move out of their place, the influx of tourists creates an invisible atmosphere that residents living in the site should rent their site to contribute positively to their nation’s economy. There is a greater emphasis in the concept similar to peer pressure where residents are influenced by other residents moving out their place for strangers. Despite the differences in how gentrification is defined in Iceland, the concept still applies.

Gentrification can happen in other forms.

In countries like the United States and Canada, attitudes toward gentrification vary. Some view it as a positive force that brings economic development, revitalization, and improvement of property values. However, others blame it for leading to the displacement of lower-income residents and the loss of cultural identity and unity in gentrifying areas. Countries like Germany are strongly against gentrification due to the gentrification that took place in Berlin. People living in Germany are leading community-led projects and protests against the displacement of initial long-term residents. On the other hand, China is one of the countries that support gentrification. They claim that packed cities like Beijing and Shanghai have undergone rapid revitalization which led to economic growth and an increase of modernization. How are we supposed to find a solution when all nations have different stances and viewpoints on gentrification?

The best way to address gentrification between countries is through communication and the establishment of regulations. For example, the UN could create a resolution document that outlines what landowners should provide to long-term residents when they are displaced, as well as the consequences for landowners who fail to follow the regulations. Additionally, the affordable housing system should allocate more resources to support landowners as a stabilizing mechanism in gentrifying neighborhoods. For instance, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts currently spends 100% of its housing development budget on rental housing, but shifting 5-10% of those funds to landowners could help stabilize communities. The biggest issue with gentrification is not just the displacement of long-term residents, but also the displacement of the unique culture that existed in those communities. To address this, an Institution of Conservation (ICON) can be implemented to preserve the buildings being gentrified and the surrounding environment. Overall, solving gentrification requires collaboration among all stakeholders.