Digital Commons Network^™

Twitter Talk For National Council On Public History 2020, Michelle Hamilton, Ariel Beaujot

Hear, Here Conference Papers

A talk created for a Twitter-based presentation at the National Council on Public History 2020.

Rethinking Gentrification And Eviction In Toronto: Are Homes Still Built For Living?, Keefer Wong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The significant increase in evictions has become one of the foremost manifestations of the housing crisis in gentrifying cities. However, the lack of collected data at both the provincial and federal levels has made it difficult to assess the distribution and conceptual nuances of this phenomenon in urban cities like Toronto. The current study explores the newer ways in which eviction is used in gentrifying cities and illustrates how any renter, not just the “urban poor,” can be precariously placed. For this purpose, eviction data drawn from the Social Justice Tribunals Ontario was used to explore how evictions were spaced …

Rui(N)Ation: Narratives Of Art And Urban Revitalization In Detroit, Jessica Ks Cappuccitti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation considers the City of Detroit as a case study for analyzing the complex role that artists and art institutions are playing in the potential re-growth and revitalization of the city. I specifically look at artists and arts organizations who are working against the popular narrative of Detroit as “ruin city.” Their efforts create counter narratives that emphasize stories of survival and showcase vibrant communities. By focussing on artist-led and institutional initiatives, I emphasize the importance of art in both community and narrative-building.

This research has taken the form of a written dissertation and two adapted projects, and positions …

Who Produces Urban Space?: Gentrification And Contestations Over Urban 'Authenticity', Daniel Kudla

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The main purpose of this work is to explain how urban authenticity has changed as a result of different social agents taking control of urban production. I will establish a framework of authenticity by combining the ideas of William Sewell’s theory of structure, Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism, Erich Fromm’s theory of freedom, Henri Lefebvre’s idea of the ‘total man’, and Herbert Marcuse’s theory of an advanced capitalist form of production. This framework of authenticity will allow me to argue that urban authenticity has been recently co-opted by multinational developers, real estate commodity, private corporations, and entrepreneurial municipal governments. The starting point …

Sowing The Seeds Of Democracy: Community Gardening In Parkdale, Toronto, Rebecca Ellis

Digitized Theses

Based on research conducted in the summer of 2009 at the HOPE garden in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, I examine how community gardening builds participatory democracy in an urban neighbourhood undergoing gentrification. The HOPE gardeners overwhelmingly were drawn to the garden as a way to connect with other people in their neighbourhood. In a complex and heterogeneous neighbourhood these gardeners were brought together in community because of, not in spite of, their differences. The garden seems also to have been a catalyst for other community gatherings in the park. I argue that the garden helps to retain the heterogeneity and complexity …