Are Smartphones Speeding Up Gentrification?

“That smartphone in your pocket just might be speeding up the gentrification of urban neighborhoods. Or at least that’s the basis of new research from the University of California, Berkeley.”

“Will Payne, a doctoral candidate in geography and new media, is collecting data to examine how smartphones — and specifically the location-based apps Yelp and Foursquare — are impacting transitional and blighted neighborhoods in cities across the country.”

“By making it easier than ever for people to discover out-of-the-way restaurants and new retail shops, these apps may be encouraging more residents to explore — and move to — neighborhoods they once would have avoided.”

FULL STORY published August 1, 2018 via Governing