Social mix and Canadian public housing redevelopment: experiences in Toronto.

Abstract

The idea of social mix in Western planning thought has fluctuated in popularity since it emerged in Britain in the 1800s. Support resurged after WWII, again in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the 1990s social mix emerged as part of a 'new' conventional wisdom in planning thought and practice. Most recently, appeals to social mix tend to justify the redevelopment of low-income communities and public housing projects. I have tried to show that recent applications of social mix ally more with neoliberal strategies of urban governance, and the principles espoused by neoliberal ideology, than they do with the progressive and equality-oriented principles behind historic promotion of the idea. The pursuit of social mix by agencies undertaking public housing restructuring (in Toronto and elsewhere) has successfully deflected criticism of their projects by appealing to this powerful planning ideal.

Key words: social mix; gentrification; public housing; Regent Park; Toronto

Resume

Depuis son emergence en Angleterre dans les annees 1800, la notion de la mixite sociale dans le contexte de l'amenagement occidental a connu un succes varie. La mixite sociale a eu un regain de popularite apres la Seconde Guerre mondiale, et encore dans les annees 1960 et 1970, pour enfin devenir durant les annees 1990 une idee tres a la mode dans la notion et la pratique de l'amenagement urbain. Recemment, on a tendance a faire appel a la mixite sociale pour justifier le reamenagement des communautes a faible revenus et des lotissements publics. J'ai essaye de demontrer que l'utilisation recente de la mixite sociale a plus en commun avec les strategies neoliberales de gerance urbaine et les principes d'une ideologie neoliberale que de liens avec les principes progressistes et egalitaires sousentendus dans la promotion historique de l'idee. La poursuite de la mixite sociale par les organismes engages dans le reamenagement des lotissements publics (a Toronto et ailleurs) a reussi a detourner les critiques de leurs projets en faisant appel a l'ideal puissant de la mixite sociale.

Mots cles: mixite sociale; embourgeoisement; lotissement public; Regent Park; Toronto

Introduction

The redevelopment of Toronto's Don Mount Court public housing project, approved in 2004 and now well under way, will be the first of its kind in Canada. The second such project, under way in Toronto's Regent Park, will be Canada's largest. In both projects, the existing low-income populations, the housing stock they live in, and the physical layout of their commun...

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