Canadian Journal of Urban Research
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Editorial Introduction - Reassembling Ottawa
Full text linkEditorial Introduction - Reassembling Ottaw
Unsettling Ottawa: Settler Colonialism, Indigenous Resistance, and the Politics of Scale
Full text linkThe city of Ottawa is on unceded Algonquin territory and, as the centre of formal political power in what is now known as Canada, has represented an important site for local, regional, national and international Indigenous networks organizing to resist settler state agendas of dispossession and assimilation. Yet the city-region is rarely acknowledged as a deeply contested space where competing ideologies and imaginaries reproduce and disrupt settler colonial common sense and state power. Based on a critical interrogation of methodological settler colonialism, this paper proposes a decolonizing scalar lens to analyze Indigenous contestations that unsettle Ottawa. Through brief case studies of local community-building, the Algonquin land claims process, and Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike on Victoria Island, it illustrates the contested, interconnected, and competing nature of scalar confi gurations and spatial ontologies and the role of “Ottawa” in settler colonialism and Indigenous resurgence
A Historical Assessment of the World’s First Business Improvement Area (BIA): The Case of Toronto's Bloor West Village
Full text linkOver 60,000 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs)1 exist worldwide. Generally, BIAs seek to revitalize their shopping districts, fi nance services, and improve and promote their area. Th e fi rst BIA started in Toronto’s Bloor West Village in 1970 and its model is now employed worldwide. Despite the global popularity of BIAs, there is controversy about what they can achieve. Some boosters argue that BIAs can revitalize urban streetscapes and allow small retailers to compete with urban malls. Opponents disagree and allege that BIAs are an unnecessary burden on small businesses because they achieve few tangible results. Amidst this controversy, this paper analyzes the eff ects of longest-running BIA to help resolve some of these questions. After offering a history of the creation of the Bloor West Village BIA, this paper assesses the impact of the Bloor West Village BIA over a 35 year period and suggests some of the limitations of long-term studies of BIAs
Policy Priorities of Municipal Candidates in the 2014 Local Ontario Elections
Full text linkThis paper reports the results of a survey on the policy priorities of municipal candidates in the 2014 municipal elections in Ontario. As part of a survey of municipal candidates in 47 Ontario municipalities, we asked a series of questions relating to perceived policy priorities, election issues, and electoral success to shed light on the extent to which municipal political candidates are “policy seekers,” and the extent to which their policy priorities vary across municipalities and municipal types, successful and unsuccessful candidates, and urban and rural candidates. We find that reported policy priorities tend to fall into two major categories: fiscal issues and economic development or administration and good governance. The prominence of these fiscal and procedural priorities is steady across a range of local candidate types, including successful and unsuccessful candidates, incumbent and non-incumbent candidates, and even urban and rural candidates. Only in very large municipalities, according to our findings, does the structure of candidate priorities begin to diverge from this standard emphasis on finance and procedure
Out, Damned Spot: Socio-economic Hygienic Practices of Business Improvement Districts
Full text linkIn this paper, we propose and develop the concept of “socio-economic hygiene” to denote the ways in which neoliberal Western urban space is spatially regulated and re-oriented towards consumption in a way that reinforces social exclusion. By connecting genocide literature with that of urban sociology, we parallel “socioeconomic hygiene” with “racial hygiene” in order to highlight similar sociological motivations and spatial tactics within both regimes. This includes the enforcement of a binary within which dominant and subordinate identities are constructed; the naturalization of the “Other” either through biology (in the case of racial hygiene) or place (in the case of socio-economic hygiene); and the micro-political enforcement of ideological genocidal/neoliberal tenets “on the ground,” translating ideology into practical social cues. We conclude by tracking how sociological strategies of “hygiene” have moved from racial and biological features to features of place and socioeconomic status, and how BIDs, resembling genocidal states in certain ways, use these strategies to continually justify their own existence
Land Trusts and the Protection and Stewardship of Land in Canada: Exploring Non-Governmental Land Trust Practices and the Role of Urban Community Land Trusts
Full text linkThis paper explores the mandates of non-government land trust organizations in Canada, the role of urban land in current land trust practices, and possibilities for the inclusion of land protection and stewardship in Canadian cities through a discussion of the community land trust (CLT) model. Through the creation of an inventory of Canadian non-governmental land trust organizations, we demonstrate that the majority of historical and contemporary land trust organizations focus on the protection and conservation of wilderness and rural lands, with limited focus on the protection and stewardship of existing urban lands. Additionally, we suggest that the CLT model, already in existence in several Canadian cities, offers a way to re-frame this emphasis and to encourage non-governmental and community-based urban land protection and stewardship in order to resist increasing land values and provide necessary community benefits that foster equitable access and affordability
Housing Experiences of Single Mothers in Kelowna’s Rental Housing Market
Full text linkThis exploratory study examines the housing experiences of single mothers in the rental housing market of Kelowna, British Columbia, a fast growing mid-size city with high housing costs. We draw on data from a survey of 30 low income single mothers and semi-structured interviews with 11 key informants to elaborate on the numerous barriers that some single mothers face in this rental housing market. Of these, the most cited issues are aff ordability, finding housing that is adequate in size, and discrimination. The single mothers’ coping strategies reflect difficult trade-offs, typically sacrificing sleeping space and privacy for safety, convenient location, and play space. Both the survey respondents and key informants called on senior governments to fund more affordable housing; and remedies such as centralised housing services and government partnerships are discussed
From Slum to Village: A Semiotic Analysis in Reimaging Urban Space
Full text linkThe transformation of inner city spaces has been dominated by explanations stressing political economy factors such as rent gap and cultural factors such as urban amenities. This paper takes a different approach in that it uses the tools of urban semiotics to show how the representations of space in a downtown location of protracted decline in the Canadian city of Calgary are transformed discursively and experientially to produce a different image for a different social class. What made this reimaging of space so critical was the fact that the displacement of the existing population was rejected which called for a powerful and aggressive semiotic reinterpretation of the area. The semiotic strategies are discussed in relation to the material changes which reveal the contradictions and dilemmas in attempting to create a mixed class community through revitalizing imagery rather than merely redevelopment
Environmental Justice, Transit Equity and the Place for Immigrants in Toronto
Full text linkIn response to population growth and events, Toronto is currently in the midst of debates about transportation planning. However, the perspectives of immigrants, especially women, who depend heavily on public transit, are often missing from academic and policy debates on transportation planning in Toronto. Due to Toronto’s changing demographic landscape, a transit planning strategy that is based on a deeper understanding of how immigrant groups travel across the city can further social equity in transportation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with immigrants on their experiences of public transit in Toronto, the paper proposes an environmental justice framework in order to consider the equity and sustainability issues inherent in Toronto stakeholders’ focus on transit expansion. The research fi ndings highlight the limited aff ordability of public transit, the poor servicing and connectivity of transit networks, and the resulting barriers to accessing work opportunities across the region. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for new directions in transit policy and planning that can better address the changing demographics and social and spatial divisions in the city
Urban Conflicts and Socio-Territorial Cohesion: Consensus Building and Compromise in the Saint-Michel Neighbourhood in Montreal
Full text linkOur research highlights the structuring effect of initiatives that mobilize social economy and community action resources with the aim of promoting the conversion of local spaces and the implementation of a dynamic of local development and socioterritorial inclusion. Using the case study of the establishment of La TOHU in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), for which we conducted a literature review and an interview survey, we show how urban conflicts contributed to the construction of a cohesive environment. In the path taken by Saint-Michel, one of the most sensitive neighbourhoods in Canada, our confl ict analysis sheds light on (1) the relationship between urban confl icts and legitimate representation for sites of consensus-building, (2) the importance of the instances allowing for debate and discussion between the various types of actors (social, business community, public) such as to generate strong coalitions centered on the social development of the local community and the improvement of the quality of life for citizens, and (3) the relationship between consensus-building among the actors and the development of compromises for the territory under study. The debates provoked by the conflicts thus allowed for the social construction of rallying points, which in turn promoted the reaching of compromises, in this case, the one leading to the establishment of La TOHU. However, although La TOHU was a success as a strategy of integration and socio-territorial connectivity, the roots of the borough’s socio-economic problems have not been resolved: Saint-Michel is still a poor neighbourhood in which socio-territorial exclusion has not disappeared. Finally, the 2008 riots which took place in Montreal-North, an adjacent neighbourhood, point to an important direction to pursue in our continuing research on the role and place of conflicts in socio-territorial regulation: the analysis of ethnic riots and conflicts related to social integration