Revitalizing Chinatown for a new generation: The community politics of the business improvement district

Abstract

Business improvement districts (BIDs) have become prominent but controversial tools for economic development and urban governance. While they have been praised for helping to revitalize economically depressed commercial areas, they also have been linked to concerns about gentrification, especially in smaller-scale urban neighborhoods. Drawing from ethnographic data on Los Angeles Chinatown, this article examines how BIDs may serve as a mechanism for gentrification in historic urban ethnic spaces by contributing to political and cultural restructuring. Through its governance structure, information sharing practices, and marketing activities, the BID contributes to changes to the neighborhood’s political structure and cultural identity. The findings show that BIDs can create displacement pressures by legitimizing a new economic and political elite from within the community who are steering neighborhood changes to create an upscaled, modern identity of the neighborhood.