The growth machine is composed of a large number of people and organizations who stand to benefit by growth of a city or place in a variety of different ways. Constituents of the growth machine include politicians, media, utilities, transportation, cultural institutions, universities, labor unions, small businessmen, large corporations, and even some neighborhood associations. Growth helps politicians acquire more governmental revenue and generate electoral support. Small businesses and large corporations stand to gain a more favorable environment for doing business and for making higher profits. Labor unions stand to gain more membership through the growth of the city and industry.
Cultural institutions stand to gain more clientele who can afford to donate money and attend events.
Newspapers stand to gain more circulation. They all stand to make more money. Growth machines are so powerful in part because such large numbers of powerful people and organizations comprise the growth machines, but also because the constituents have successfully put aside their various differences and unite behind the notion that growth is good for everyone. Issues such as the inherent class nature of gentrification are excluded from discussion by means as simple as selective news coverage and editorials. Growth machines are active in supporting gentrification because of the net financial gains, the apparent elimination of a bad neighborhood, and the acquisition of a more financially secure, politically active population.