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“Places are deeply important ... for our psyche,” Fullilove says. Loss of home can result in disorientation, alienation and nostalgia, as well as the destruction of social networks, her research shows. If it happens numerous times, “each of the displacements comes on top of a weaker set of social relationships and a diminished set of resources."
Displacement as the result of the 125th Street rezoning is still just a threat, not a reality. But Marwell, the Columbia sociologist, says that when it comes to land use, resistance is often more strategic than it appears.
“If something goes forward, it precludes anything else happening there,” she said. Opponents block disfavored uses "in hopes that they’re eventually going to be able to get the use that they actually want. They really are looking to turn land use toward their own advantage, which is frankly the same thing the other side is doing.”
