Canadian Journal of Urban Research
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Reinventing Urban Waterfronts Beyond the Urban Core: Public Space and Redevelopment in Squamish and the Vancouver Region
Full text linkUrban waterfront research has concentrated primarily on the redevelopment of the core areas of major portcities; yet just as cargo handling activities have extended from their traditional core urban port locations into themetropolitan hinterland, urban waterfront redevelopments have spread into smaller and suburban communities.Both processes have occurred without much scholarly attention. In this paper, we trace the implications ofwaterfront redevelopment processes in smaller suburban communities beyond the urban core. We show howsuburban waterfront developments tend to ignore local cultural histories and communities while threateningthe values of diversity that might be embraced in all public spaces, regardless of location.To accomplish this, we provide a case study of waterfront redevelopment and public space formation inthe town of Squamish, British Columbia, in comparison to other suburban waterfront redevelopments aroundthe metropolis of Vancouver. Typically, these redevelopments are in communities that used to host signifi cantindustrial operations and are now trying to “reinvent” themselves. We identify the limited publics celebratedby, and the constrained forms of publicness created through, contemporary suburban waterfront planningpractices. We also pay specifi c attention to the changing planning discourses that strongly infl uence the designand marketing of contemporary suburban waterfront communities.La recherche sur les fronts d’eau urbains s’est concentrée principalement sur le réaménagement des zonescentrales des grandes villes portuaires; cependant, tout comme les activités de manutention du fret se sontétendues de leurs zones portuaires centrales traditionnelles à l’arrière-pays métropolitain, les réaménagementsde front d’eau urbain se sont étendus à des communautés plus petites et suburbaines. Les deux processus ont eulieu sans beaucoup d’attention par les chercheurs. Dans cet article, nous retraçons les implications des processusde réaménagement de front d’eau dans les petites banlieues situées au-delà du noyau urbain. Nous démontronscomment les aménagements de front d’eau en banlieue ont tendance à ignorer les histoires et les communautésculturelles locales tout en menaçant les valeurs de diversité qui pourraient être bien accueillies dans tous lesespaces publics, quel que soit leur emplacement.Pour ce faire, nous fournissons une étude de cas sur le réaménagement de front d’eau et la formation d’espacespublics dans la ville de Squamish, en Colombie-Britannique, par rapport à d’autres réaménagements de frontd’eau en banlieue autour de la métropole de Vancouver. Généralement, ces réaménagements se trouvent dans descommunautés qui hébergeaient d’importantes activités industrielles et essaient maintenant de se « réinventer ».Nous identifi ons les publics limités célébrés par les pratiques de planifi cation contemporaines de front d’eausuburbain, ainsi que les formes restreintes de publicité créées par celles-ci. Nous accordons également uneattention particulière aux discours changeants en matière de planifi cation qui influencent fortement la conceptionet la commercialisation des communautés contemporaines de front d’eau en banlieue
Art and Neighbourhood Change Beyond the City Centre
Full text linkIn critical urban research, artists are typically seen as drivers of central city gentrifi cation and public arts asdepoliticized tools of the creative city agenda. This paper takes Toronto’s Main Square as a case study, first,to delineate the multiple ways that community arts can influence social change beyond gentrifi cation, andsecond, to identify suburban space as an important site of cultural and creative policy articulation. We claimthat the unique non-central location of Main Square appears as a significant factor shaping the trajectory oftransformation and delimiting the political potential of arts in engendering public values and in addressingspatial injustice. We claim that rather than following the script of neoliberal creative city policies, communitybased public art can work within and against a market-driven logic of cultural programming to pose newopportunities for public space and public life.Dans la recherche urbaine critique, les artistes sont généralement considérés comme moteur de l’embourgeoisementde centre-ville et les arts publics sont perçus comme des outils dépolitisés du programme des villes créatives.Dans cet article, nous analysons les transformations de Main Square à Toronto pour illustrer les multiples façonsdont l`art communautaire peut infl uencer des changements sociaux au-delà de l’embourgeoisement. De plus,nous identifi ons l’espace de banlieue comme un lieu important pour la formulation de politiques culturelles etcréatives. Nous affi rmons que l’emplacement unique et non-central de Main Square apparaît comme un facteurdéterminant de la production de l’espace public et qui délimite le potentiel politique des arts pour lutter contrel’injustice spatiale. Nous affi rmons que l’art public communautaire n’est pas simplement un outil commercialisé,mail ce dernier peut créer de nouvelles opportunités pour l’espace public et la vie publique
Just Because You Could, Doesn’t Mean You Should: Exploring if (and When) Cities Should Brand Through a Case Study of The City of London, Ontario
Full text linkCities in Canada and abroad are engaging in place branding initiatives without any true understanding of whether they are likely to succeed. A key reason for this uncertainty is that there is a lack of understanding of what local conditions are needed to ensure the best chance for success. This study addresses this uncertainty in two ways: first, a theoretical framework is developed to identify local characteristics and conditions that are requisite for place branding; and second, the City of London, Ontario is used as a case study to examine whether small and midsized cities should be branding. Based on an extensive review of the literature domain a framework of seven criteria was developed: is there a need? Is there something to be branded? Is there local capacity and knowledge? Is it part of strategic planning? Is there leadership? Is there coordination? And is the process inclusive? Based on interviews with sixteen key stakeholders in London (both local officials and community stakeholders), it is clear that the city meets very few of these criteria. This suggests that London – and likely most other small and midsized cities in Canada and abroad need to be measured in their approaches to place branding
Indigenizing City Planning Processes in Saskatoon, Canada
Full text linkThe article examines how the City of Saskatoon’s strategies for working with Indigenouscommunities in high-level planning processes leading to its Strategic Plan 2013-2023 relate to three concepts framing the academic literature on how to re-calibratestate-Indigenous society relations at the urban municipal level: Indigenization, coproduction,and coexistence. We argue that indigenizing mainstream city planningprocesses through authentic forms of partnership will increase Indigenous densitywithin our shared cities. Qualitative interviews with leaders from City Hall andAboriginal communities revealed a disconnection between municipal and Indigenousparticipants’ ideas about inclusion. The City’s mechanisms of consultation engagedIndigenous communities as stakeholder interest groups, but not as autonomouspolitical communities wanting to share control as full partners. A civic culture andinstitutional structures that affirm and operationalize indigeneity would have improvedthe outcome of Saskatoon’s planning processes
Editor's Introduction: Public Space Beyond The City Centre: Suburban and Periurban Dynamics
Full text linkThrough this special issue, we bring together papers interested in public space beyond the city centre. That is, public space in suburban and periurban locations, including high-rise neighbourhoods and new exurban divisions, and in communities located at the interstices of the city-region. We are interested in how the values associated with public space—as an accessible site open to a range of uses, and a place of collective engagement and interaction—map out as we step away from downtown. Additionally, we are concerned with how struggles over and within public space proceed in non-central places
Urban Transformations: Centres, Peripheries and Systems
Full text linkBook review by Maxwell Hartt of Urban Transformations: Centres, Peripheries and Systems, Daniel P. O'Donoghue, editor
Constructing the Patriarchal City: Gender and the Built Environments of London, Dublin, Toronto, and Chicago, 1870s into the 1940s
Full text linkBook review by Laura Shillington of Constructing the Patriarchal City: Gender and the Built Environments of London, Dublin, Toronto, and Chicago,1870s into the 1940s, author Maureen A. Flanagan
Cities and the Politics of Difference: Multiculturalism and Diversity in Urban Planning
Full text linkBook Review by Molly Ranahan of Cities and the Politics of Difference: Multiculturalism and Diversity in Urban Planning, Michael A. Burayidi, editor
Leaky Governance: Alternative Service Delivery and the Myth of Water Utility Independence
Full text linkBook review by Eva Pip of Leaky Governance: Alternative Service Delivery and the Myth of Water Utility Independence, Kathryn Furlong, author