Hispanics in the Neighborhood: Changing Urban Space: A Case Study of Refugees in Towns: East Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The East Boston report explores a rapidly changing neighborhood that is being transformed both by immigration (largely from Hispanic populations), and by gentrification including the skyrocketing cost of rent, particularly along certain streets. The author, herself a migrant from Costa Rica, looks at how the ownership and use of spaces in East Boston are changing from old mostly Italian Americans to newly arriving Hispanics and "yuppy" high income, primarily white gentrifiers. The author illustrates how at a neighborhood level, East Boston appears integrated and diverse, but at a street level and in terms of social connections, the neighborhood remains divided.