Are rents rising in your Philly neighborhood? Don't blame the baristas

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Geoff Moss, Temple University

(THE CONVERSATION) Baristas who work in specialty coffee shops, along with hipsters more generally, have been referred to as the “shock troops” of urban gentrification – and it’s no different in Philadelphia. These servers of artisanal coffee contribute to economic and demographic changes in neighborhoods in two ways.

First, they work in coffee shops that appeal to a new wave of middle-class residents who can afford higher rents – while at the same time alienating longtime and less economically advantaged residents.

Second, these baristas almost invariably live in gentrifying neighborhoods. They don’t have much money, but they tend to exude a cool, white middle-class presence. The appearance of specialty coffee shops and baristas signifies that a neighborhood is becoming trendy and more expensive.

As a professor of sociology at Temple University who is fascinated with urban artistic subcultures, I recently published a book called “Barista...