Two major events in the latter half of the 20th century brought dramatic changes to the Bronx and its people, from which it would take decades to recover.
First came the ramming of the Cross Bronx Expressway across vibrant neighborhoods, driving out tens of thousands of people and cementing communities into poverty. Then came years of arson fires that gutted entire blocks and made the borough an international symbol of urban blight.
But in 2026, the Bronx is changing once more — this time in what appears to be, on the surface, a far more positive light.
Neighborhoods like Mott Haven now have apartment and office buildings soaring into the sky. Developers are spending millions to build in the Bronx what they hope will be the next great community, with the promise of generating more economic activity to help the entire borough thrive for years to come.
Yet all the new development has brought a new set of challenges for longtime Bronx residents seeking to stay in an affordable community. The new buildings have sparked gentrification — the phenomenon in which new development and investment lead to higher rents and drive away people who have lived here for decades.
There has even been a wholesale effort to rebrand the Bronx with new neighborhood nicknames to attract residents who may, for whatever reason, be apprehensive about living here. “SoBro” may make the South Bronx sound trendy and chic, but at what cost to the community’s residents and culture?
In this installment of “Our Forgotten Borough,” we’re looking at the changing Bronx today. We’ll look at what made the Bronx what it is today, and the many external forces now trying to recreate the borough before our very eyes.
We will examine the myriad changes through the lenses of business owners who invested in the promised boom of redevelopment; longtime property owners who have witnessed decades of an evolving Bronx now looking for a way to continue affording to live in the borough they’ve called home; and online influencers looking to show the world what the Bronx truly is today.
The Bronx is no longer burning as it had in the 1970s. The horrific impacts of urban blight are being overcome step by step, building by building, day by day, decade by decade.
Today, the Bronx is building and changing. Now it’s up to all of us to ensure that the building and changing leaves no one in our forgotten borough behind.
