A Study of Gentrification

The gentrification has now been studied in a wide variety of countries in America, Europe and also in Australia, but not in Asia. This paper begins with the definitions on gentrification, then based on a theoretical framework to examine the development of gentrification in some observed areas in Taiwan. The concept of the gentrification is still in chaos and complexity, and so there are many explanations.

Under the differential explanations is the rent gap theory by far the most sophisticated theoretically developed explanation available to date. Smith\'s rent gap theory of gentrification has received a substantial amount of attention since it appeared in the Journal of the American Planning Association in 1979. This paper examines the rent gap theory of gentrification from the view of point of ground rent theory, and finds that some hypotheses should be re-examined, and that the application of rent gap theory of gentrification should be also careful.