Faster than a gentrifying locomotive

The Maryland Transit Administration plans to implement two new light rail transit (LRT) stations in Langley Park, Maryland as part of the Purple Line route. Langley Park is a majority Latinx, low-income community. Property values have been known to increase in communities within a quarter mile of transit stations. Property values increasing has shown to be one of the causes for community residents being priced out of housing and communities gentrifying due to demographic turnover from non-white (often times Black) residents to white residents. The report explores the connection between LRT implementation and the vulnerability of a community to gentrification as a result of new development that follows the public investment in physical infrastructure. Gentrification, disinvestment, and displacement are defined. The impacts of LRT on gentrification are explored. Case studies are examined to explore the impacts that similar communities have experienced. A Susceptibility Tool Kit was utilized to analyze Langley Park’s susceptibility to gentrification. Recommendations are made for planners involved in the implementation process of the Purple Line.