Lesson 7: Urban Change: Gentrification & Renewal
Demonstrating geographic understanding of urban spatial patterns, models, and processes.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Processes of urban decay, gentrification, urban intensification (medium-density townhouse infill), and brownfield waterfront redevelopment (e.g. Wynyard Quarter / Britomart).
Compare historical and modern photos of inner-city suburbs (Ponsonby, Grey Lynn), evaluate social impacts of displacement vs urban renewal, and map brownfield sites.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Gentrification & Urban Renewal Dynamics
Video Clip: What is gentrification? Causes, effects, and urban displacement (Runtime: 7m 31s).
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
How do historic working-class suburbs transform into high-value gentrified heritage zones over a few decades?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Watch for: Trace the stages of gentrification: low rent → artist/pioneer influx → property renovation → high-income takeover.
- Watch for: Contrast greenfield sprawl on urban fringes with brownfield inner-city waterfront redevelopment.
- Watch for: Evaluate housing affordability impacts and community cultural displacement.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Examine local case studies (Ponsonby 1970s vs today; Wynyard Quarter marine-industrial to mixed-use precinct).
Immediate Task: Complete Section 7 of your Geography Portfolio: Gentrification Stage Analysis & Brownfield Case Study.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Rent Doubles. Who Leaves?
A suburb becomes fashionable and rents double over ten years. Two minutes: list who moves out, who moves in, and one thing that is lost which no property valuation will ever record.
Keep your list. You will hold it against Ponsonby and Grey Lynn — two suburbs where this already happened, to real households.
📖 Activity 1: Then and Now, Then Stage the Process
Compare the photographs (13 min). Put the historical and current images of the same street side by side. List what changed in the buildings. Then list, separately, what the photographs cannot tell you about who lives there — that second list is the harder one and it matters more.
Place it on the sequence (12 min). Locate your street on the gentrification sequence: low rent, incomer influx, renovation, high-income takeover. State the evidence that puts it at that stage and what would move it to the next.
📝 Activity 2: Level 2 Geography Portfolio Task & Merit/Excellence Scaffolding (20 mins)
Portfolio Section 7. Submit: (1) your then-and-now comparison with changes listed; (2) a mapped brownfield redevelopment — Wynyard Quarter or Britomart — showing what it was and what it became; (3) a two-sided evaluation with one clear gain and one clear cost from urban renewal, each attached to a specific group of people rather than to the land.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
NCEA Level 2 Alignment: Direct preparation for Level 2 Geography (Demonstrate geographic understanding of an urban pattern). Emphasise integrating specific case study evidence and annotated map sketches for Merit/Excellence grades.