Cities for Everybody: Walking the Jane Jacobs Effect in Buenos Aires | This Big City

An article that is a little bit on the planner geek side of the spectrum.  Much reference is made to Jane Jacobs work The Death and Life of Great American Cities.  This is considered a "must read" book in the planning profession.  I urge you to pick up a copy if you can.  This is a quote from the article related to gentrification:

Today, gentrification is a big deal in the US – partly due to a more commercialized interpretation of the ideas originally expressed by Jacobs – but in Latin America it’s a little known trend only experienced in the largest cities. In the US, gentrification represents something quite different. In most US cities, density had for decades been synonymous with poverty, as anyone who could afford to leave dense areas did so. Gentrification in the US represents shifting attitudes by elites in favor of dense zones. On the other hand, dense zones in Latin America have always retained a significant elite population, so gentrification in this area isn’t a question of elites moving into dense zones so much as from one dense zone to another.

Like it or not, Lake Worth's grid pattern, its walkable neighborhoods and denser urban fabric is attractive to the aging Baby Boomer generation, as well as those referred to as Millennials. Click title for link.