Conflicting Visions: Political Struggle Over Urban Space in Lawrence Heights

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dc.contributor.advisorLatham, Robert E.
dc.contributor.authorCareless, Jon Robert
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-28T21:14:20Z
dc.date.available2023-03-28T21:14:20Z
dc.date.copyright2022-10-25
dc.date.issued2023-03-28
dc.date.updated2023-03-28T21:14:20Z
dc.degree.disciplinePolitical Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation is a case-study of a public housing district in North York, Toronto known as Lawrence Heights, a so-called “priority neighborhood” undergoing the largest “urban revitalization” project in Canada. Typically, a revitalization is formed through a public-private partnership between a government and private developers, which together direct the razing of a disinvested area, followed by the building of new residential developments, commercial businesses, and public amenities in its place. It happens that government officials, planners, architects, and developers are employing enormous resources towards a revitalization project unfolding in the context of late neoliberalism (as a once revolutionary paradigm) undergoing fracturing since the crisis of 2008. In this situation, however, people continue struggling against, and are actively resisting, the long-standing and increasingly visible consequences of neoliberalism as a market-driven de-democratizing force that has leveled social service provision while also driving up living costs. The research uncovers forms of political conflict that have arisen during the Lawrence Heights revitalization. In so doing, I map out a chronological narrative detailing the past and present of this district as it continues transforming. To this end, I address the following questions: What do ongoing relations between interested parties involved in remaking Lawrence Heights tell us about the capacity for late neoliberalism to absorb and modify the multiple visions put forward for the neighbourhood’s future that align with its principles? What political outcomes arise in the deliberations over the use and distribution of resources associated with the revitalization? How do these interactions in this localized case study fit into larger struggles between different groups to leverage the state to institute certain policies in an environment where neoliberalism’s negative impacts on poorer communities have fueled energetic counter-pressures? Borrowing from Gramscian thought, this dissertation argues that the early stages of the Lawrence Heights revitalization suggests the potential unfolding of a localized passive revolution with grassroots anti-systemic organizers seizing meaningful levels of control over the direction of revitalization planning, as evidenced by their securement of resources for resident-led programs, employment opportunities, and decision making power, while struggling against the prevailing limits and power enforced by neoliberal policy regimes.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/40967
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectPolitical Science
dc.subject.keywordsNeoliberalism
dc.subject.keywordsUrban revitalization
dc.subject.keywordsLawrence Heights
dc.subject.keywordsToronto
dc.subject.keywordsUrban political economy
dc.subject.keywordsGrassroots politics
dc.subject.keywordsPassive revolution
dc.subject.keywordsAbstract space
dc.subject.keywordsDifferential space
dc.subject.keywordsState theory
dc.subject.keywordsGentrification
dc.subject.keywordsUrban revanchism
dc.subject.keywordsSettler colonialism
dc.subject.keywordsSpatial-fix
dc.subject.keywordsPublic housing
dc.subject.keywordsSocial-mixing
dc.subject.keywordsGarden City
dc.subject.keywordsUrban regeneration
dc.subject.keywordsUrban renewal
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian politics
dc.subject.keywordsUrban history
dc.titleConflicting Visions: Political Struggle Over Urban Space in Lawrence Heights
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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