UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Gentrification on the urban fringe: Prosperity and displacement in West Marin, California Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/96p636xj Author Lage, Jessica Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Gentrification on the urban fringe: Prosperity and displacement in West Marin, California By Jessica Lage A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Nathan Sayre, Chair Professor Richard Walker Professor Nancy Peluso Professor Rachel Brahinsky Spring 2019 Gentrification on the urban fringe: Prosperity and displacement in West Marin, California By Jessica Lage Copyright 2019 Abstract Gentrification on the urban fringe: Prosperity and displacement in West Marin, California by Jessica Lage Doctor of Philosophy in Geography University of California, Berkeley Professor Nathan Sayre, Chair The global housing crisis, the epidemic of foreclosures, and rising global inequality have put the spotlight on gentrification in cities around the world. In the gentrifying San Francisco Bay Area, Marin County (and West Marin in particular) has escaped attention by gentrification scholars, but it is an essential part of the larger story of gentrification in the Bay Area. This dissertation examines the history of gentrification in West Marin, its relationship to regional socioeconomic transformations, and its local articulations. Gentrification in West Marin has similar characteristics to that in San Francisco and Oakland, though the continuity in West Marin’s physical landscape conceals the extent of the socioeconomic transformations gentrification has caused. West Marin communities feel the effects of the Bay Area’s tech economy in high home prices, increased short-term rentals and second-home owners, and long commutes for workers. Many of the people most affected are also not readily visible—often undocumented immigrants who work in agriculture and are isolated by living conditions and by language and culture. The local agricultural economy, rather than disappear in the face of rising land prices, has been mandated to remain, and has had to transform itself to stay viable. In doing so, agriculture has created a culture of food that contributes to the gentrification of West Marin, as it draws an elite customer base and contributes to the shrinking housing available for the workers that keep the agricultural and service sectors going. This dissertation engages with the literature on urban, rural, and agricultural gentrification in order to understand local articulations of gentrification processes, and what they can tell us about the consequences of gentrification in general. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ iv Map of region .................................................................................................................... v Map of study area ............................................................................................................ vi Map of protected agricultural lands ............................................................................. vii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Research origins ......................................................................................................................... 4 Research methods ....................................................................................................................... 5 Dissertation outline ..................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1. Defining and explaining gentrification ........................................................ 7 Waves of gentrification .............................................................................................................. 8 What’s rural about gentrification? ......................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2. Why Marin is different: urbanization, suburbanization, and demographics of the Bay Area ....................................................................................... 13 Marin County ........................................................................................................................... 15 Development pressures .......................................................................................................... 15 The 1973 Countywide Plan: two Marins ............................................................................... 17 Transportation ........................................................................................................................ 18 Marin County demographics .................................................................................................. 18 Marin County and affordable housing ................................................................................... 20 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 3. Continuity in the physical landscape: institutions and infrastructure in West Marin ...................................................................................................................... 22 Governance ............................................................................................................................... 23 State: Coastal Act and Coastal Commission .......................................................................... 23 County: Marin County zoning and development code .......................................................... 24 Local: community plans ......................................................................................................... 24 Permit process and cost .......................................................................................................... 24 Physical/geographic and infrastructure limitations .............................................................. 25 Septic ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Water ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Transportation systems .......................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 4. Creating a desirable landscape: land conservation, gentrification, and housing ............................................................................................................................. 29 West Marin before the National Seashore and 1973 Countywide Plan .............................. 30 Land conservation .................................................................................................................... 33 Development of a tourist economy and the transformation of the housing market ........... 35 Housing crisis ............................................................................................................................ 40 Evolution of the housing market ............................................................................................ 41 West Marin ............................................................................................................................. 44 Housing stock ......................................................................................................................... 47 Undercapitalization .................................................................................................................. 48 Relative underinvestment ....................................................................................................... 48 i Short-term rentals ................................................................................................................... 49 The wage gap: wage inequality and the rent gap .................................................................. 49 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 52 Chapter 5. Land conservation, Point Reyes National Seashore, and housing supply ........................................................................................................................................... 53 Point Reyes Peninsula .............................................................................................................. 53 A national seashore established on private land .................................................................... 54 The National Park Service as landlord ................................................................................... 57 Cultural resource management in Point Reyes National Seashore ..................................... 59 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................