AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL “I don’t think they care about us”: An Urban Ethnography of Gentrifying Leisure Spaces in Montréal Gabrielle Valevicius Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education McGill University October 2020 1 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………...…4 Résumé………………………………………………………………………………………...….5 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………6 Contribution of Authors…………………………………………………………………………7 Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Introduction..................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 1: Literature Review.....................................................................................................16 1.1 Inroduction...................................................................................................................16 1.2 Gentrification...............................................................................................................18 1.3 Environmental Gentrification......................................................................................26 1.4 Contested Leisure Spaces............................................................................................30 1.5 Chapter Summary and Concluding Remarks...............................................................35 Chapter 2: Methodology..............................................................................................................36 2.1 Inroduction...................................................................................................................36 2.2 Theoretical Perspectives..............................................................................................36 The Spatial Turn…………....................................................................................39 The Ethnographer’s Biography…………………………………………………..43 2.3 Methods…………........................................................................................................47 Participant Observation..........................................................................................49 Interviews and Sampling........................................................................................54 Textual Analysis....................................................................................................56 Data Analysis.........................................................................................................57 2 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Ethical Considerations...........................................................................................60 2.4 Chapter Summary and Concluding Remarks…………………………………….......61 Chapter 3: Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………63 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..63 3.2 The Divisive Character of Gentrification……………………………………………64 3.3. No Other Choice; A “Commonsensical” Use of Space……………………………..88 3.4 Chapter Summary and Concluding Remarks………………………………….……..98 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………99 References...................................................................................................................................108 3 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Abstract This urban ethnography explores how gentrification is lived in and through everyday spaces of leisure in a divided Montréal neighborhood. The neighbourhood setting is Mountain Sights, situated within the Triangle development—an ongoing urban revitalization project located in the broader neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges (CDN). CDN is a historically working-class neighbourhood and home to a large refugee and new immigrant population. I specifically explore how gentrification is played-out in and around De la Savane Park (DSP)—a large urban park situated alongside Mountain Sights Avenue that has long been central to Mountain Sights residents’ leisure practices and community life. My analysis contributes to scholarship on gentrification and critical leisure and sport studies in the following two ways: 1) by highlighting the divisive character of gentrification, which was notable in my ethnographic setting due to an emergent distinction between longer-standing lower-income apartment tenants and higher- income condominium dwellers; 2) by examining how Mountain Sights residents, particularly youth, creatively adapted available (often disinvested) leisure space in and around DSP as “spatial practice”—a theoretical idea coined by sociologist Henri Lefebvre (1991). My thesis concludes with important opening questions that address how the global health crisis incited by the COVID-19 virus has exacerbated the pressures of gentrification on Montréal’s lower-income families. 4 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Résumé Cette ethnographie urbaine explore l’impact de la gentrification sur les espaces de loisir et de sport à Montréal. Cette ethnographie s’est déroulée principalement dans le quartier de Mountain Sights, situé dans le développement urbain Le Triangle, un projet de revitalisation urbaine au sein d’un secteur formellement industriel du quartier de Côte-des-Neiges (CDN). CDN est un quartier historiquement à faible revenu, où y habitent de nombreuses familles réfugiées ou nouvellement immigrantes. Mes recherches se sont axées plus spécifiquement sur le processus de gentrification à l’intérieur, ainsi qu’aux alentours, du parc De la Savane—un grand parc public qui longe l’avenue Mountain Sights et qui, depuis longtemps, est central aux loisirs et à la vie communautaire des résidents de Mountain Sights. Mon analyse contribue aux littératures sur la gentrification ainsi qu’aux littératures d’étude critique du sport et du loisir de deux façons principales : 1) en illuminant le caractère divisoire de la gentrification, qui était marquant à mon emplacement ethnographique, notamment due à une division grandissante entre les locataires de longue date et à faible revenu et les résidents plus aisés qui habitent dans les condominiums; 2) en examinant comment les résidents de Mountain Sights, plus particulièrement les jeunes, ont adapté de façon créative des espaces de loisir (souvent délabrés) à l’intérieur ainsi qu’autour du parc de la Savane en tant que « pratique spatiale »—une idée théorique du sociologue Henri Lefebvre (1991). La conclusion de ce mémoire aborde d’importantes questions, en guise d’ouverture, pour discuter de comment la crise sanitaire actuelle, engendrée par le virus de la COVID-19, a exacerbé les pressions de la gentrification à Montréal envers les familles à faible revenu. 5 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Jordan Koch for providing me continuous academic guidance and support throughout the process of writing this thesis and for challenging me to engage with the complex and critical components of interdisciplinary research. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Naomi Nichols and Dr. Shane Sweet for their valuable and deeply constructive advice, which has provided me inspiration and perseverance. I would like to thank my parents, Alma and Andrius Valevicius and my siblings Darius, Veronika, Aïda and Augusta Valevicius, my brothers-in-law Cameron Cook and Nicholas Papaxanthos, as well as my partner Oumar Sall for their unwavering support and for always shedding positive light on my efforts, through both the more fruitful as well as the more difficult instances of my graduate journey. I would like to express my gratitude for the members of the McGill EPHECS lab who have brightened my time at McGill through their friendship, compassion and moral support. Thank you to Shoaib-Hasan Shaikh, Marina Erfle, Melissa Daoust, Hariata Tai Rakena, Derek Wasyliw, Jeff Silas, Mike Auksi and Bobby Angelini. I would also like to thank staff members and volunteers of the organizations Project Genesis and the Centre Communautaire de Mountain Sights for their time and guidance over the course of my master’s degree. 6 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Contribution of Authors Gabrielle Dalia Valevicius was the principal contributor to the data collection, data analysis and interpretation of the data of this thesis. Dr. Jordan Koch, Gabrielle Dalia Valevicius’s supervisor, contributed to the conceptualization of this research project and guided the candidate in the different steps involved in shaping this thesis. 7 AN URBAN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GENTRIFYING LEISURE SPACES IN MONTREAL Preface The man I approached sitting on the bench that hot summer’s day in De la Savane Park (DSP) was enjoying the August rays with his baseball cap slanted over his forehead to shade his eyes. I was worried that I had disturbed what was a rare and blissful moment in the sun when the noise from the nearby construction cranes and bustling city traffic was relatively silent. The man fortunately seemed unphased by my intrusion and agreed to share with me his thoughts on the various developments taking place in his neighbourhood. He told me that Mountain Sights was originally named for the once stunning views it afforded residents of Mount Royal, a prominent landmark and urban park in downtown Montréal. Today, Mountain Sights is replete with construction cranes, “rue barrée” signs, and the once stunning views of Mount Royal are heavily distorted