Description: Based on an ethnographic study of the role and experiences of local businesses, institutions, and community-level actors in Logan Square and Pilsen, two longtime ethnic enclaves experiencing and resisting gentrification in Chicago, Storefront examines local businesses' contributions to communities, how businesses might promote or protest gentrification, and how streetscape transformations can threaten community members' sense of belonging in place. Steven Tuttle untangles issues of community and conflict, segregation and integration, alienation and place attachment, and small business social responsibility from the vantage point of local businesses themselves. In addition to insights about community development, local institutions, and social capital common in qualitative neighborhood studies and gentrification scholarship, Storefront also features a unique focus on local businesses and the racialization of space.
Brief description: STEVEN TUTTLE is an assistant professor of sociology at St. Joseph's University-Long Island. His scholarship has appeared in City & Community, Critical Sociology, American Behavioral Scientist, and Rural Sociology, among other venues. Tuttle previously held a postdoctoral researcher position at Ball State University, and his current and future research examines how local resources and community and economic development strategies shape how low-income residents make ends meet in three rural Indiana towns. He currently resides in Queens, New York.
Review Quotes: While residential gentrification has received significant attention, far less has focused on commercial gentrification. Tuttle tackles this gap in Storefront with his cutting-edge examination on how the intersections between commercial gentrification, the racialization of space, and the reshaping actions of local businesses exacerbate economic and social inequalities, while at the same time, redefining who belongs in the community.--Deirdre Oakley "coeditor of The Performative City: An Approach to the Study of Urban Policy"