Contested Discourses of Sustainability in Old Ottawa South by Donald
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Contested Discourses of Sustainability in Old Ottawa South by Donald Leffers A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2010, Donald Leffers Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-81608-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-81608-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada Abstract Urban sustainability, though widespread within the popular and academic discourse, is seldom scrutinized critically. This thesis, theoretically informed by poststructural political ecology and methodologically framed by Foucaultian discourse analysis, interrogates how particular knowledges of sustainability are produced and contested through the circulation of power. Using case study research in Ottawa, Canada, this thesis shows how social actors and institutions discursively produce urban sustainability. This research addresses questions around what counts as nature, how nature is socially 'produced', and what practices become normalized within hegemonic constructions of urban sustainability. As this thesis shows, current urban planning in Ottawa privileges growth and legitimizes the sustainable development discourse by commodifying nature - essentializing growth within a 'development apparatus' that seeks to sustain a commodified nature to serve the global economy. Many research participants contest hegemonic discourses of sustainability, instead privileging consultative policies and practices that support quality of life, community identity, and heritage preservation. n Acknowledgements Many people assisted me in the development of this thesis; to all of you I am truly grateful. Thank you to Patricia Ballamingie, my thesis supervisor, whose guidance, advice, and hard work made for a valuable and enjoyable research and writing process. Thank you to Jill Wigle, for your advice and expertise, especially in the realm of urban planning and governance, and for guiding me towards interesting and useful reading material. Thanks to all my colleagues in the MA room, for sharing your thoughts and creating a congenial atmosphere. To Fiona Mackenzie and David Bennett, thank you for challenging me to think in new ways and for all your support and guidance throughout the course of my MA. Thank you to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, and particularly to Natalie Pressburger, for always being there when I had questions and concerns (and for always having the answers). I would also like to thank all the research participants in Old Ottawa South. Your generosity with your time and candidness with your insights helped make this a valuable research experience. Thanks to Neil for listening and sharing your time. To Deidre, thank you for your patience, support, and excellent editing skills. Frederick, thank you for your unique insights and fantastic space ships. Vera, thank you for showing me clearly how power operates. in Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Urban Sustamability in North America 3 1.2 Towards Sustamability in the Canadian City 4 1.2.1 Old Ottawa South 7 1.3 Overview of the Research 11 1.3.1 Research question and conceptual framework 11 1.3.2 Introduction to the case study 13 1.3.3 Introduction to the participants 23 1.4 Organization of the Thesis 24 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework 25 2.1 A Critical Approach to Sustamability 26 2.2 Poststructural Discourse Theory and Sustamability 28 2.2.1 Discourses of heritage and community 38 2.3 Political Ecology and the Social Construction of Nature 40 2.3.1 Contributions from poststructuralist theory 42 Chapter 3: Methodological Framework 46 3.1 Methodology 47 3.1.1 An extended case study approach 49 3.1.2 Foucaultian discourse analysis 51 3.2 Methods 52 3.2.1 Interviews 53 3.2.2 Participant observation 57 3.3 Data Management and Analysis 60 3.3.1 Transcription 63 3.3.2 Discourse analysis and coding 64 3.4 Research Ethics 68 IV Chapter 4: The Social Construction of Sustainability in Ottawa 70 4.1 Institutional / Officialized Discourses 72 4.1.1 From growth to sustainable development 74 4.1.2 Scalar discourses of sustainable development 77 4.1.3 Re-prioritizing growth 79 4.2 Discursive Constructions of Scale 87 4.2.1 The urban as the site of sustainability 88 4.2.2 Re-scaling the urban 90 4.3 Discourses of Urban Intensification 98 4.3.1 Deconstructing intensification 98 4.3.2 Legitimizing intensification 118 4.3.3 Is intensification a smart way to grow? 119 4.3.4 The role of NEVIBYism 123 4.3.5 The power of'development' 128 4.3.6 Exercising 'infrapower': Resisting the 'development apparatus' 131 4.3.7 Other ways of knowing sustainability 134 4.4 Discourses of Nature 137 4.4.1 Planning nature 138 4.4.2 Officialized discourses of nature in the new millennium 140 4.4.3 Constructing nature in Old Ottawa South 146 4.5 The Social Construction of Sustainability in Ottawa: Conclusions 152 Chapter 5: Discourses of Community in Old Ottawa South 154 5.1 Creating Community 155 5.2 Discursive Constructions of Community 164 5.2.1 Performativity: The process of becoming community subjects 165 5.2.2 Becoming an activist in Old Ottawa South 167 5.3 Negotiating Identity 170 5.3.1 The front porch as material/symbolic 171 5.3.2 Identity and collective heritage 174 5.3.3 Change as threat 177 5.3.4 Beyond representation: The politics of community associations 180 5.4 Sustainability as Threat 188 5.4.1 Urban development as a capitalist enterprise 189 5.4.2 Private property rights and individualism 191 5.5 Towards an Identity of Possibility and Hope: Conclusions 193 v Chapter 6: Conclusion 197 6.1 Theoretical (Anti)Foundations 197 6.1.1 Theoretical contributions 199 6.1.2 Theoretical next steps 200 6.2 Sustainability, Community, and Heritage in Old Ottawa South 200 6.3 Practical Insights 202 6.3.1 Practical challenges: Methods 203 6.3.2 Transcription as a 'research moment' 206 6.3.3 Practical limitations 210 6.4 Conclusion 213 Literature Cited 215 Appendix A 231 Appendix B 232 Appendix C 234 VI List of Figures and Tables Figure 1.1: Location map of Old Ottawa South 8 Figure 1.2: Redevelopment of 88 Bellwood 15 Figure 1.3: Proposed Shoppers Drug Mart at Bank and Sunnyside 19 Figure 1.4: Redevelopment of 35 Brighton 22 Figure 4.1: Locations and boundaries of the City of Ottawa's 23 wards 91 relative to the greenbelt Figure 4.2: Campanale Homes' website advertisement of 35 and 113 37 Brighton Avenue Figure 4.3: Ottawa's growth management strategy 141 Figure 4.4: Planning hierarchy in the City of Ottawa 142 Table 4.1: City of Ottawa urban, suburban, and rural wards and 92 their councillors in 2009 vn List of Appendices Appendix A: The 10 principles of Smart Growth 231 Appendix B: Discursive constructions of Barrhaven as the antithesis of 232 sustainability Appendix C: Guiding principles of the 1991 City of Ottawa Official Plan 234 vin List of Key Abbreviations and Acronyms CDP Community design plan FCA Federation of Citizens' Associations of Ottawa-Carleton MMAH Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing NIMBY Not in my backyard OMB Ontario Municipal Board OSHP Ottawa South History Project OSCA Ottawa South Community Association Oscar Ottawa South Community Association Review OSWatch Ottawa South Watch: zoning and development subcommittee of OSCA RMOC Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton TOD Transit oriented development IX Chapter 1: Introduction The concept of sustainability can be traced at least as far back as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment of 1972 (UNEP, 1972) and subsequently, to the widely cited United Nations' publication Our Common Future: Towards Sustainable Development (often referred to as The Brundtland Report; WCED, 1987). Our Common Future outlines the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social) and more recently, several authors have proposed a fourth pillar: cultural (EACCC, 2006; UNEP, 2002). More recent global initiatives around sustainability include the United Nations programme and publication Agenda 21; Chapter 28 of this publication calls on local authorities to adopt their own 'Local Agenda 21' in order to address sustainability through localized initiatives (UNCED, 1993).