---
title: Whose ‘Right to Suburbia’?
date: 2024-09-24T06:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/whose-right-to-suburbia"
section: Articles
---
# Whose ‘Right to Suburbia’?

*September 24, 2024* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Professor’s New Book Exposes the Banishment and Battle for a Place in Washington’s Suburbs

*Getty Images 103136279 1920x1080 — Downtown Silver Spring gleams at twilight in 2006 after much redevelopment. In a new book exploring gentrification in the suburbs, a UMD researcher delves into the effect of the area's economic revitalization on Ethiopian immigrant business owners and residents.*

Ellsworth Avenue in Silver Spring, Md., sizzles on a summer evening: Residents stroll along its tree-lined sidewalks under the neon glow of upscale chain restaurants, retailers and a Whole Foods Market. Beyond the din of downtown is a different kind of sizzle: the intoxicating aroma of sliced meat frying in butter, garlic and onion—called tibs—wafting from one of many Ethiopian restaurants just outside the city center.

Many in Silver Spring’s Ethiopian population—one of the largest outside of Ethiopia—struggled to endure the redevelopment that spawned its flashy retail and entertainment district, and the rent hikes that followed. Now, they face new challenges with the construction of the state of Maryland’s light-rail Purple Line.


*“The Right to Suburbia: Combating Gentrification on the Urban Edge” book cover*


*Willow Lung-Amam headshot*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Books](https://today.umd.edu/topic/books), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)