This chapter delves into the urban transformation of Somerville, Massachusetts, focusing on the intersection of gentrification and resilience of the Azorean American community situated on the city’s border with Cambridge, MA, next to Boston. Over three decades this urban space has transitioned from a working-class ethnic-immigrant enclave to one of the United States' most expensive residential areas and suffering the profound impacts of gentrification. Based on a collaborative ethnographic and visual methodology, we explore cultural artifacts and conviviality practices of a semiotic landscape amid urban change, and critically examine the vanishing vernacular landscape and the ethnic identity shifts within this context: a bottom-up, counter-narrative contrasting top-down, homogenizing forces. Through three detailed ethnographic vignettes, our narrative delves into how Azorean Americans navigate and challenge the urban renewal process, maintaining their cultural heritage and communal ties through visible and invisible markers in the urban space.

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street assemblages,brand identity,Portuguese,Azorean American,gentrification,collaborative ethnography,visual approach,ethnic resilience,urban semiotic landscape

This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• Ethnic heritage in the shadows: a collaborative ethnography of Azorean American resilience in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, USA