On Gentrification, Group Living and Other Delights An NPR report on gentrification made me think of the different circumstances in which I have witnessed it firsthand in my life. As a rule, gentrification of a neighborhood impacted primarily on economically disadvantaged populations and people of color, as younger, upwardly-mobile couples (“Yuppies” in the vernacular of the day) began to move from the suburbs back into urban neighborhoods in search of cheap housing and shorter commute times. The North Side of Pittsburgh in the 1970s was one example; in this case, the influx of well-to-do young couples impacting on ethnically diverse working and middle class families whose livelihoods and security had fallen away from them with the closing of plants and mills associated with the steel industry. As fallen-down houses were renovated and businesses designed to service the newer, upwardly mobile, predominantly “professional” population increased, so did the tax base - forcing fami