Ruslan Kazkenov
URBS 150
12/14/17
The Urban Space Debate.
The topic I want to talk about is Gentrification in Venice, CA. I personally live in this
area since January, 2017. From my point of view, it is a mixed area of poor, homeless and rich
people. This area has been going through gentrification since late 1990s and in early 2000s. A
met a lot of people who were complaining about how Venice has changed during last 20 years.
But people from poor and middle class gave me different conclusions about this issue. Some of
them were telling me it was a good thing, others said it was a disaster. This is why I think that
whether gentrification is good or bad for neighborhood is controversial issue.
Before going deep in topic, I should provide some history of this area. The original name
of this place was “Venice of America” and was created after Venice, Italy. It was originally
planned to be a resort of Los Angeles where people from middle and upper class could come to
