degentrification means the reverse process of gentrification, such that a residential area previously only affordable to affluent people becomes affordable to those who are poorer. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
DEGENTRIFICATION — [Noun] The socioeconomic process by which a previously affluent urban neighborhood returns to a state of economic accessibility for lower-income residents, often marked by decreased property values and commercial disinvestment. From the English prefix de- (indicating reversal or removal) + gentrification (from gentry + -fy + -ication, the process of making an area more affluent). Unlike "gentrification" (a colonizing, capital-fueled ascension) or "decline" (a shapeless, pejorative sigh), degentrification is a specific, often contested, socio-economic ebb tide. It is the weathered "For Rent" sign persisting for months, the artisanal cheese shop quietly replaced by a check-cashing service, and the community garden reverting to a contested, weedy lot—a quiet insistence that urban life is a cycle of claims and reclamations, and that not all value is monetary.
noun
- The reverse process of gentrification, such that a residential area previously only affordable to affluent people becomes affordable to those who are poorer.“Prophesies of degentrification appear to have been overstated as many neighborhoods continue to gentrify while others, further from the city center begin to experience the process for the first time.”