NOTE TO USERS Page(s) not included in the original manuscript are unavailable from the author or university. The manuscript was microfilmed as received. This reproduction is the best copy available UMI EXPLORING THE MARGIN THE BORDERS BETWEEN REGENT PARK AND CABBAGETOWN Luisa Veronis A thesis submitled in confomiity with the qubeme- foithodeg~ofMn@erof MS Gndwr oepmmtof G#OImy ünîwwsity of Tomto Q Copyright by Luise Vmnis 1999 National Libraiy Bibliotheque nationale du Canada A uisitions and Acquisitions et ~&gra~hicSeMces seMces bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence aliowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distniute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract Exploilng the Margin: the Borders ktween Ragent Park and Cabbagetown Master of Arts 1999 Luisa Veronis Graduate Department of Geography University of Toronto This thesis explores the meaning and the usefulness of the spatial metaphor 'margin' in urban social geography. I anaîyze a downtown neighborhood of Toronto in light of the modemist. pstmodemist and border interpretations of the rnargin. My study of the contrasting yet juxtaposeâ communiaes of Regent Park (a public housing project) and of Cabbegaown (a gentrified ma) leads me to conclude that the rnargin is a multiple, flexible Wace where groups with unequal power meet, corne into conflict and negotiate. Through this research, I examine the links baween power relations. the production of spece and the politics of representation. Drawing on governrnent reports, newspaper articles and personal intm*ews, I investigato the urben planning policies that have sh- the neighbomood since the late 1Ws, the shifts in the media image of each cornmunity, and the stniggI8s of their respective populations. Acknowledgementr My special thanks go to my supe~sors,Susan Ruddick and Ted Rdph, for their availability and their invaluable comments, and to rny mother, Catherine Marchand, for her long distance suppoit. I am most grateful to my infamants, Doug Rice, Maria Long, Richard Milgrom, Adonis Higgins, David Zapparoli, Patricia Gilbert, John Sewell, Joice Guspie and Peggy Kurtin, for their interest in meeting me and in anmering my questions, for their time and for dl the matenel they provided; without them this research would not have been possible. I would like to thank Antonio G6m et-Palacio for the stimulating discussions on my preliminary ideas, Jennifer Hall for her fesdback on my early drafts end her suggestions, as wdl as Kashif Khan foi hi$ tedinical assistance. I also wish to thank &th Ryan for helping me with my wriüng throughout this year and Martine Johnson for revising the final clraft. I would like to mention Pamela Wachna, Curator of the Market Gallery, and the librm*ansof RoMs Ubrary, Parliament Public Library, the City Archives and the Urban Aff airs Ubrary who assisted me in my search toi materiai. nnally, I owe my greatest deM to the community of Rgent Park, to the individuals I maand to the fmw I did rot have the chance to know. iii Tabla of Contents Abûhact.... ...................................~....................................................................................... ii ..* Acknowledgments........................................................................................................... III Tabie of oontents............ ., ............................................................................................ .iv List of maps......................................................................................................................... v List ot figures.......................................*.......................................~-................................. **..v lm- ..................,., ...................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. The juxtaposition of the centre and the margin.. ........................... .2$ Chapter 2. The margin Yrom above' ..................... ... ........ .. Chapter 3. The margin Yrom bdow'.. ............................ .... .................................. -73 Chapter 4. R&Mng the marpin. ....................................................................... 1 14 Appendix A: Data from the Census of Canada 1996............................................. 130 Appendk 8: Intenriam, and events.............................. ... Refemœs.................................................................................................................... .147 Lirt of mapr Map 1-The locations of Regent Park and Cabbagetown as these are currently undwstood......................... .. .......................................................................... ....3 Map 2- a) Cabôagetown Census tracts - b) Rûg~tPark CWWStractr .......................................................................... 6 Figure 1 : The Nosolitudesn, Gerrard St. East faing west ................. .. ....... 19 Figure 2: CeWagetown's econornic heatt, Parliament St. at the corner of cariton st ................................................................................................. 19 Figure 3: A mixing of old and new architecture, Parîiament St. at thcorner of Wnchester St ........................................... .......................................... Figure 4: The 'Benana Island' at the intersection of Parliament and Gerrard stmts*.........*.......................................................................*.................... 20 Figure 5: Richard Milgrom's workshop - 'Rmoâding Regent Park'. Sunday-in-aisPark, July 11, 1999............... ....... ............................ .4ô Figure 6: Badcyards ot ûundas S. East. 1905................................... 2 Figure 7: Regemt Park Nom as premted in an architect's drawing, about 1948.......................................................................................................... 50 Figure 8: Toronto Housing Authority Board lnspects Regent Park Area . 1947.......................................................................................................... 52 Figure 9: Last dey in old home .glad day in new . 1949............... ..... ...........54 Figure 10: a) Community gardens in front of aie Regjent Park Community Ministry United Chuich of Canada which is home to 13 groups of kccil action .40 Oak St .. RmtPark North....................................... 88 b) 1he old Rqent Park Community Hsalth Centre. located in Regent Park South................................................................................. 88 Figure 11 : Surveillance came-: who is watching for whose protection? .....98 Figure 12: David Zapparoli's photographs of Regent Park residents: ordinary peopie mng Mdinary lives........................... ...... 4 Figure 13: Cetch Da nava October 1998 issue on 'neighboumoodism'..... 104 To the cornrnunity of Regent Park vii Introduction Cabôagetown hm ml and a mail town fedhg. (...) There is a sense of prkb, a sense of omierahip, a bernie of ornnmurtity hem in the hart of this large cumopdtan dty. Cabbagetown is a place we can relate to bica*r of its human deand wamith; il is a pi- to saüsfy out mdWc senw. -the Cabbagetown Plsservation AsrilocCe!ion, Wdng OM CaMqgelown (1992: 5). .*O urbanista, miteds, flanm. and htstorians as well rn visita8 fram around globe (...) ane to see one of Nocth America's largest colledons of laîe nineteenth #witury homes, and aie mirade of a neighborhood th* worlrs in a dty that worlce. I tMnk chey should kicû people out no*i p.ople who cause tmubîe in Regent Park cihould be cunt out of il (sic).No or# Jiould peint on the wdls nor steal. Students should not swear nw fiM. They should be thinking of living togethet in p~loanâ bve adhmy. And (hwi we wwld be able to Ih together in peaœ. (Jlwn Gm;in madi. 1999: 30) In this thesis, I wish to explore the concept of the margin in urban social geography. Applying different interpretations to a cas8 Sudy of the margin tmtwmn Cabbagetown and Regent Park in Toronto, I will investigate the meaning of the concept and its usefulness for understanding larger societal processes. First, I will look at the modernist reading which is based on the assumption that the margin is produced and irnposed by the dominant group. Then, I will analyze the postmodernist perspective with the hope of filling in the gaps left by the first approach. The postmodemist critique opens the way to difference by enabling those who are oppr8SSBd and silenced to voice their world view. Finally, taking into consideration the limits of both the modemist and the postmodemist interpretation, I will tum to a mird way', to the ideas presented by border theoiy. According to this, the margin is a Wace of conflict, of negotiation, and of possi*Me hybridity; it is the meeting point between the dominant and the suôordinate, the edge wheie the dialectic between the two takes place.