Gentrification arrives with promises of revitalization but is an invading force whose momentum has developed out of a history of discriminatory laws and practices in the United States. City Rising is a documentary showing how gentrification is the result of a web of decisions made by those in power.

Cities have been entrepreneurial about encouraging development, while regarding displacement as inevitable. Fast-rising home values have made property ownership more elusive than ever for those historically excluded. People of color who cherish their neighborhood’s culture and sense of community are mobilizing against unsustainable rents and other forces they see pushing neighbors into homelessness.

Coming in September on KCET and LinkTV, City Rising is a one-hour broadcast special with online videos and articles looking at six California communities undergoing gentrification: Boyle Heights and South Central in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Oakland and the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento.

Fearing the loss of their community’s soul, residents are gathering into a movement, not just in California, but across the nation as the rights to property, home, community and the city are taking center stage in a local and global debate.

Premieres September 2017.

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