gentrify

This term carries a heavy sociological weight, often evoking a tension between urban improvement and social displacement. While the physical result is typically a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing neighborhood with higher property values, the connotation is frequently critical or negative due to the forced migration of long-term, lower-income residents.

In political and academic discourse, it is used to describe the systemic shift in demographics where the working class is replaced by the professional middle class. It differs from general urban renewal in that it specifically emphasizes the change in the social class of the inhabitants rather than just the repair of infrastructure.