‘Social Mix’ and Neighbourhood Revitalization in a Transatlantic Perspective: Comparing Local Policy Discourses and Expectations in Paris (France), Bristol (UK) and Montréal (Canada)

Abstract

The longstanding debate around the merits of promoting social class mix in urban neighbourhoods has taken a new twist in recent times. A transatlantic and neoliberal convergence of policy advice, supported by the ‘neighbourhood effects’ thesis, makes a case for addressing deep poverty by spatially deconcentrating it, inter alia, by gentrification. While developing trenchant critiques of this approach, critical urban scholarship has tended to take a ‘top‐down’ view of urban neoliberalism, giving insufficient consideration to the agency of local governance actors in policy design and implementation, as well as to differences in national and local reference points with regard to what social mix connotes. We present findings of a comparative study of the meanings and effects attributed to social mix by key local policy actors across three ‘distressed’ neighbourhoods: in inner‐city Paris (France), Bristol (UK) and Montréal (Canada), targeted for neighbourhood revitalization involving planned residential social mix in two cases and diversification of local retailing and its consumer base in all three. We find that while local actors' rationales for social mix do reflect a neoliberal turn, this is not embraced unequivocally and a strong home‐grown element, drawing on national or local ‘myths’, persists. Our study sheds light on the expectations that local policy actors have on the incoming middle classes to make the mix ‘work’ by supporting community; pointing to the paradoxes and limitations of such a perspective. Résumé Le débat déjà ancien sur l’intérêt de promouvoir la mixité sociale dans les quartiers urbains vient de connaître un revirement. Une convergence transatlantique et néolibérale des orientations politiques, soutenue par la thèse des ‘effets de proximité’, préconise de remédier à la grande pauvreté par une déconcentration spatiale, notamment via la gentrification. Tout en étant très critiques à l’égard de cette approche, les auteurs de recherches urbaines ont plutôt favorisé une vision du néolibéralisme urbain imposée d’en haut, négligeant en partie l’agence des acteurs de la gouvernance locale dans la conception et l’application des politiques, ainsi que les différences de repères nationaux et locaux dans ce qu’évoque la mixité sociale. Les résultats présentés émanent d’une étude comparative des significations et effets attribués à la mixité sociale par les principaux acteurs de l’action publique dans trois quartiers ‘sinistrés’ du centre‐ville de Paris, Bristol et Montréal, ceux‐ci faisant l’objet d’une revitalisation dans laquelle s’inscrivent la mixité sociale de l’espace résidentiel pour deux d’entre eux, et la diversification des commerces de proximité et de leur clientèle dans les trois cas. Si la justification de la mixité sociale par les acteurs locaux reflète effectivement un virage néolibéral, elle n’est pas adoptée sans hésitations, et une forte composante spécifique au lieu persiste, née de ‘mythes’ nationaux ou locaux. L’étude éclaire sur ce que les acteurs de la politique locale att...

Reinventing Rio de Janeiro’s old port: territorial stigmatization, symbolic re-signification, and planned repopulation in Porto Maravilha | A reinvenção da zona portuária do Rio de Janeiro: estigmatização territorial, ressignificação simbólica e repovoamento planejado no projeto Porto Maravilha

“…Since incentives to attract middle class residents to the port have not included any form of action to prevent the eviction of current, low-income families, gentrification can be assumed to be both planned and deliberate, as a central part of Porto Maravilha's development strategies. 4 This is not an exclusive expression of Rio's port revitalization project as being demonstrated by an extensive literature in urban studies (LEES, 2008;BACQUÉ et al, 2011;BRIDGE;BUTLER;LESS, 2012;ROSE et al, 2013). …”

“…The port also had an important residential population of mainly poor and black low-wage earners, whose limited mobility required proximity to the city center, where daily work could be found (ABREU, 2006). Throughout its history, the port's average income, education and employment levels were substantially lower than in the rest of the city (CARVALHO, 1995;ROCHA, 1995).…”

“…Critics denounce Porto Maravilha's instrumentalization of culture and the concomitant exploitation of the consensual power of cultural production as a strategy used to give a benevolent face to a speculative and exclusionist project (SÁNCHEZ;BROUDEHOUX, 2013;SOUTY, 2013). However, in its quest to turn the area into an attractive, risk-free investment, Porto Maravilha is promoting a vision of culture that has little to do with local reality and history.…”

“…In order to boost real estate activity and to unlock land values, Rio de Janeiro's civic authorities have implemented a series of policies and practices that favor what Brazilians call "noble uses", which include upscale housing for middle and higher classes, luxury office space, cultural institutions and high-end shopping and dining facilities. Proposed measures and incentives include the relaxation of zoning regulations, the implementation of infrastructure, tax breaks for investors, and city marketing strategies (MONTEIRO; ANDRADE, 2012;SÁNCHEZ;BROUDEHOUX, 2013).…”

“…As the largest public-private-partnership in Brazilian history, this project seeks to turn a vast, devalued post-industrial sector into a world-class, mixed-use entertainment district, through the construction of cultural facilities, the development of tourist attractions and the stimulation of real estate activity (MONTEIRO; ANDRADE, 2012;SÁNCHEZ;BROUDEHOUX, 2013). Once a dynamic commercial and industrial neighborhood, economic activity declined during the second half of 20th century and the conversion of properties and vacant lots into tenements and informal housing settlements accentuated its low-income residential character (ABREU, 2006).…”