IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v54y2017i8p1921-1937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Witnessing urban change: Insights from informal recyclers in Vancouver, BC

Author

Listed:
  • Kate Parizeau

Abstract

The perspectives of those most affected by urban change are often understudied, although these voices have the potential to inform academic understandings of the production of gentrified space. The Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC is undergoing a period of intense redevelopment, raising concerns about the potential displacement of its predominantly low-income residents. In this study, informal recyclers (people who earn income from collecting recyclable or resaleable items) share their observations of neighbourhood change based on their lives and work in the DTES. Informal recyclers’ observations reveal that diverse gentrifying processes are at play in the DTES, including restricted access to space, the social exclusion of othered bodies, and the symbolic construction of the DTES as a place of poverty that is in need of intervention. The inclusion of informal recyclers’ perspectives provides nuance to place-based processes of gentrification, and acknowledges the concerns of low-income urbanites most affected by urban change.

Suggested Citation

  • Kate Parizeau, 2017. "Witnessing urban change: Insights from informal recyclers in Vancouver, BC," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(8), pages 1921-1937, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:54:y:2017:i:8:p:1921-1937
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098016639010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098016639010
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098016639010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian K. Ray & Greg Halseth & Benjamin Johnson, 1997. "The Changing ‘Face’ of the Suburbs: Issues of Ethnicity and Residential Change in Suburban Vancouver," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 75-99, March.
    2. Tom Slater, 2006. "The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 737-757, December.
    3. Bevin Ashenmiller, 2009. "Cash Recycling, Waste Disposal Costs, and the Incomes of the Working Poor: Evidence from California," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 85(3), pages 539-551.
    4. Jutta Gutberlet & Bruno de Oliveira Jayme, 2010. "The Story of My Face : How Environmental Stewards Perceive Stigmatization (Re)produced By Discourse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(11), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Elvin K Wyly & Daniel J Hammel, 2004. "Gentrification, Segregation, and Discrimination in the American Urban System," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(7), pages 1215-1241, July.
    6. Tremblay, Crystal & Gutberlet, Jutta & Peredo, Ana Maria, 2010. "United We Can: Resource recovery, place and social enterprise," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(7), pages 422-428.
    7. Loïc Wacquant, 2008. "Relocating Gentrification: The Working Class, Science and the State in Recent Urban Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 198-205, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosemary D.F. Bromley & Peter K. Mackie, 2009. "Displacement and the New Spaces for Informal Trade in the Latin American City Centre," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1485-1506, June.
    2. Mark Davidson, 2011. "Critical Commentary. Gentrification in Crisis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(10), pages 1987-1996, August.
    3. Noleen R. Chikowore & John M. Kerr, 2020. "A Qualitative Inquiry into Collecting Recyclable Cans and Bottles as a Livelihood Activity at Football Tailgates in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Megan Nethercote, 2017. "When Social Infrastructure Deficits Create Displacement Pressures: Inner City Schools and the Suburbanization of Families in Melbourne," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 443-463, May.
    5. Kevin Ward & Colette Fagan & Linda McDowell & Diane Perrons & Kathryn Ray, 2010. "Class Transformation and Work-Life Balance in Urban Britain: The Case of Manchester," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(11), pages 2259-2278, October.
    6. Nadine Marquardt & Henning Füller & Georg Glasze & Robert Pütz, 2013. "Shaping the Urban Renaissance: New-build Luxury Developments in Berlin," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(8), pages 1540-1556, June.
    7. Yael Shmaryahu-Yeshurun & Guy Ben-Porat, 2021. "For the benefit of all? State-led gentrification in a contested city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2605-2622, October.
    8. Winifred Curran, 2010. "In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces: Manufacturing, Creativity and Innovation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 871-885, December.
    9. Lance Freeman, 2009. "Neighbourhood Diversity, Metropolitan Segregation and Gentrification: What Are the Links in the US?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(10), pages 2079-2101, September.
    10. Loretta Lees & David Ley, 2008. "Introduction to Special Issue on Gentrification and Public Policy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2379-2384, November.
    11. Michael Janoschka & Jorge Sequera & Luis Salinas, 2014. "Gentrification in Spain and Latin America — a Critical Dialogue," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1234-1265, July.
    12. Bjarke Skærlund Risager, 2021. "Financialized Gentrification and Class Composition in the Post‐Industrial City: A Rent Strike Against a Real Estate Investment Trust in Hamilton, Ontario," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 282-302, March.
    13. Loretta Lees, 2008. "Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2449-2470, November.
    14. Brian Doucet, 2014. "A Process of Change and a Changing Process: Introduction to the Special Issue on Contemporary Gentrification," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(2), pages 125-139, April.
    15. H. Shellae Versey & Serene Murad & Paul Willems & Mubarak Sanni, 2019. "Beyond Housing: Perceptions of Indirect Displacement, Displacement Risk, and Aging Precarity as Challenges to Aging in Place in Gentrifying Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-21, November.
    16. Acuff, Kaylee & Kaffine, Daniel T., 2013. "Greenhouse gas emissions, waste and recycling policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 74-86.
    17. Tim Butler, 2007. "Re‐urbanizing London Docklands: Gentrification, Suburbanization or New Urbanism?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 759-781, December.
    18. Winifred Curran, 2018. "‘Mexicans love red’ and other gentrification myths: Displacements and contestations in the gentrification of Pilsen, Chicago, USA," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(8), pages 1711-1728, June.
    19. Shenjing He, 2012. "Two Waves of Gentrification and Emerging Rights Issues in Guangzhou, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(12), pages 2817-2833, December.
    20. Ingmar Pastak & Eneli Kindsiko & Tiit Tammaru & Reinout Kleinhans & Maarten Van Ham, 2019. "Commercial Gentrification in Post‐Industrial Neighbourhoods: A Dynamic View From an Entrepreneur’s Perspective," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 110(5), pages 588-604, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:54:y:2017:i:8:p:1921-1937. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.