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The "Paris Problem" in Toronto: The State, Space, and the Political Fear of "The Immigrant"

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dc.contributor.advisorKipfer, Stefan Andreas
dc.creatorZafarghandi, Parastou Saberi
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-27T13:37:43Z
dc.date.available2017-07-27T13:37:43Z
dc.date.copyright2017-01-24
dc.date.issued2017-07-27
dc.date.updated2017-07-27T13:37:43Z
dc.degree.disciplineEnvironmental Studies
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThe Paris Problem in Toronto addresses contemporary debates on place-based urban policies in the immigrant neighbourhoods of Western metropolitan centers. Taking the ideologically constructed figure of the immigrant seriously, I emphasize the need to examine the relational formation of urban and imperial policies and politics of intervention. Focusing on Toronto (Canada), a city celebrated for its diversity management and tolerance, the central thesis of this dissertation is that the material force of the ruling classes political fear of non-White working-class populations and neighbourhoods is central to the formation of place-based urban strategies. This political fear feeds upon a territorialized and racialized security ideology that conceives of non-White working-class spaces as potential spaces of insecurity, political disorder and violence. It is based on this security ideology and its link to race riots that the Paris problem has become a common reference point in policy circles in Toronto since 2005. I show how this territorialized and racialized security ideology is camouflaged within a liberal humanitarian ideology that renders non-White working-class spaces as spaces simultaneously in need of securitization and tutelage. Such a rendition parallels the perceptions of ungoverned spaces in the war on terror. I examine major place-based social development policies (Priority Neighbourhoods, Toronto Strong Neighbourhood Strategy 2020), place-based housing redevelopment policy (Tower Renewal), and national and urban policing strategies, providing the first comprehensive socio-historical analysis of place-based urban policy targeting non-White poverty in Toronto that began in the 1990s. I have traced the ideological formation and transformation of major policy techniques like mapping and policy concepts such as: poverty, security, policing, development, empowerment, social determinants of health, equity and prevention across various scales and temporalities. Instead of eradicating or reducing poverty, the goal of such policies is to constitute a liberal post-colonial poor, one who is eminently less threatening to the political stability of imperialist capitalism. My research shows that the state can mobilize place-based policy as a modality of neo-colonial pacification. Not reducible to a product of neoliberalization, such a policy recomposes colonial relations of domination by moderating violence and pacifying perceived threats to the existing order.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/33531
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectArea planning and development
dc.subject.keywordsUrban policy
dc.subject.keywordsImmigrants
dc.subject.keywordsRacism
dc.subject.keywordsDevelopment
dc.subject.keywordsSecurity
dc.subject.keywordsPolicing
dc.subject.keywordsToronto
dc.subject.keywordsCanada
dc.subject.keywordsHousing redevelopment
dc.subject.keywordsPlace-based policy
dc.subject.keywordsPoverty
dc.subject.keywordsSocial determinants of health
dc.subject.keywordsEquity
dc.subject.keywordsCity of Toronto
dc.subject.keywordsPriority neighbourhoods
dc.subject.keywordsToronto Strong Neighbourhoods 2020
dc.subject.keywordsTAVIS
dc.subject.keywordsNon-White poverty
dc.subject.keywordsState
dc.subject.keywordsGeopolitics
dc.subject.keywordsMaps
dc.subject.keywordsMapping
dc.subject.keywordsTower Renewal
dc.titleThe "Paris Problem" in Toronto: The State, Space, and the Political Fear of "The Immigrant"
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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