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Green Spaces, Identity, and the Middle Class

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Green Spaces, Identity, and the Middle Class NORTH OF NORTH STREET: GREEN SPACES, IDENTITY, AND THE MIDDLE CLASS by Brenden J. Harvey Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2014 © Copyright by Brenden J. Harvey, 2014 DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the two most important women in my life. To my loving partner Tierney who has helped support me from the beginning of my thesis to its bitter end, helping keep me grounded and ensuring I leave the basement at least once or twice a day. And to my mother Vicki, who had to endure reading papers and assignments of questionable quality throughout the better part of my undergraduate degree. I would not be writing this thesis here today without her willingness to underline the same mistakes for years until I finally figured out how to write. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ............................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 Halifax and the North End ........................................................................................................... 3 North Enders, Green Space, and the Expanded Middle Class .................................................... 4 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: CLASSING GREEN SPACE IN THE CITY.............. 6 2.1 Public Green Space .............................................................................................................. 7 Development of Modern Urban Parks ..................................................................................... 7 Parks and Moral Governance .................................................................................................. 8 Contemporary Struggles over Green Space ............................................................................. 9 2.2 Historical Operationalization of Class ............................................................................. 11 2.3 Operationalization of Class in this Study ........................................................................ 14 What is the Middle Class? ..................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Urban Political Ecology ..................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 3 METHODS ................................................................................................................. 23 3.1 Identifying the North End: An Iterative Approach ........................................................ 25 3.2 Green spaces in the North End: Field Observation ........................................................ 26 3.3 Qualitative Interviews ....................................................................................................... 32 3.4 Ethics ................................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 4 GREEN SPACE AND THE MIDDLE CLASS ....................................................... 34 4.1 Class and Green Space ...................................................................................................... 36 4.2 “Middle-Classing” the North End ................................................................................... 40 Place-Making: Where Everybody Knows Your Name ........................................................... 40 Mixing .................................................................................................................................... 42 4.3 Markers of the Middle Class ............................................................................................. 45 Employment............................................................................................................................ 46 Education ............................................................................................................................... 51 Housing .................................................................................................................................. 52 iii Chapter 5 WHAT IS THE NORTH END? CREATING AND DEFINING BOUNDARIES ....................................................................................................................................................... 58 5.1 South of North Street ......................................................................................................... 58 5.2 A Brief History of the North End ..................................................................................... 60 19th Century Halifax ............................................................................................................... 61 Early 20th Century: The Halifax Explosion ............................................................................ 62 Urban Renewal: the Postwar Years ....................................................................................... 64 Africville ................................................................................................................................. 65 5.3 Gentrification- Postwar to Contemporary Halifax ......................................................... 66 5.4 North of North Street ......................................................................................................... 69 5.5 Drawing North End Boundaries ....................................................................................... 74 South of North Street .............................................................................................................. 75 North but Reflexive ................................................................................................................ 77 Chapter 6 GREEN SPACE AND NORTH ENDERS ............................................................... 83 6.1 The Uses of Green Spaces .................................................................................................. 83 Profane Space ........................................................................................................................ 90 Sacred Space .......................................................................................................................... 91 6.3 The Grass is Always Greener ............................................................................................ 93 6.4 Escape to the Woods .......................................................................................................... 97 6.5 Uncertainty in Local Green Space Development .......................................................... 100 6.6 Contemporary Struggles over North End Green Space ............................................... 102 Chapter 7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 108 7.1 Feeling “North Endy” ...................................................................................................... 108 7.2 Future Research and Concluding Remarks ................................................................ 109 WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................................ 113 Appendix A: Interview Guide ..................................................................................................... 116 Appendix B: Participant Consent Form .................................................................................... 118 Appendix C: List of Interviewees ................................................................................................ 121 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1- Map of the North End………...……………………………………………….26 v ABSTRACT How do residents in Halifax Nova Scotia’s North End experience and use public green spaces within the city? Researchers argue that public green spaces in cities are important for the overall health and wellbeing of urban populations, yet they are often located in areas of high socio-economic wealth (Heynen et al, 2006). Do residents of the North End, once a largely working-class area, experience any kind of “green deficit”? Drawing on fieldwork conducted in North End green spaces and semi-structured qualitative interviews with white middle-class North End residents, I argue that the latter experience nuanced green deficits (lack of wooded space). While all participants valued green spaces highly, certain conflicts over their use were apparent. Green spaces in the North End often act as proxies for larger debates about the area’s history, drawing issues of class, race, and white privilege into arguments about how local green spaces are used. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED Urban Political Ecology (UPE) Point Pleasant Park (PPP) vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the tireless work of my supervisors Elizabeth Fitting and Martha Radice. Liz has been an invaluable advisor who has pushed me to become a better researcher. I could not ask for a better supervisor
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