Across the Indianapolis region, neighborhoods have experienced rapid cultural changes and shifting housing demand. Join us as we examine neighborhood-level demographic changes across the region from 1970 to today, exploring the trends of suburbanization, gentrification, and the suburban redevelopment.

About the Program

Neighborhood Change Since 1970: How Suburbanization, Gentrification, and Suburban Redevelopment Have Shaped the Indianapolis Region
June 14, 7:45-10 a.m.
WFYI, 1630 N Meridian St, Indianapolis, IN 46202

Across the Indianapolis region, neighborhoods have experienced rapid cultural changes and shifting housing demand. Join us as we examine neighborhood-level demographic changes across the region from 1970 to today, exploring the trends of suburbanization, gentrification, and the suburban redevelopment.

We discovered three important trends.

• Suburbanization and “white flight” made the ‘70s the fastest changing decade in our study. While white population in the region grew by 29,000, it declined by 120,000 in Indianapolis’ core and early suburbs.
• Gentrification started in downtown Indy in the ‘80s and accelerated after 2000 in southeast neighborhoods like Fletcher Place and Fountain Square; near-east neighborhoods like Holy Cross and Cottage Home; and neighborhoods along North College Avenue like Fall Creek Place. From 2000-2010, Fall Creek Place became significantly whiter, wealthier, and more college-educated.
• The trend toward urbanization has led some suburbs, like Carmel, to create dense city centers which added 1,300 residents downtown since 2010.  Meanwhile, the opposite trend has occurred in some suburbs without concentrated redevelopment. A Greenwood neighborhood went from nearly all-white in 2000 to 77 percent white in 2016, while income fell 22% over the same period.

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