This book examines the roles that public space plays in gentrification. Considering both
cultural norms of public behavior and the municipal regulation of behavior in public it shows
how commonplace acts in everyday public spaces like sidewalks streets and parks work to
establish neighborhood legitimacy for newcomers while delegitimizing once authentic public
practices of long-timers. With evidence drawn from the formerly Latino neighborhood of Highland
in Denver Colorado this ethnographic study demonstrates how the regulation of public space
plays a pivotal role in neighborhood change. First there is often a profound disharmony
between how people from different cultural complexes interpret and sanction behavior in
everyday public spaces. Second because regulations codes urban design and enforcement
protocols are deliberately changed commonplace activities longtime neighborhood residents feel
they have a right to do along sidewalks and streets and within their neighborhood parks
sometimes unexpectedly misalign with what is actually possible or legal to do in these publicly
accessible spaces.
