Public Housing Redevelopment: Residents' Experiences with Relocation from Phase 1 of Toronto's Regent Park Revitalization
Loading...
Date
2007-04-30T20:12:08Z
Authors
Schippling, Richard M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
Regent Park is Canada’s largest and among its oldest public housing developments. Like similar large-scale public housing developments across North America, Regent Park has come under considerable criticism for isolating low-income households and facilitating crime, among other things. As a result, an ambitious six-phase, one billion dollar revitalization project was initiated in 2005 to completely re-design Regent Park and integrate the neighbourhood into the urban fabric of Toronto. This qualitative study examines the impact of relocation on residents from phase 1 of this revitalization project. With demolition of the neighbourhood commencing in February of 2005, 370 households from Regent Park were dispersed; some stayed in Regent Park, some moved to surrounding neighbourhoods, and others moved further away in the Greater Toronto Area. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of 21 of these households in an effort to discover some of the more salient impacts of relocation on the lives of phase 1 residents. Both social and place-based impacts were assessed using the frameworks of social capital and place attachment, respectively. The study was conceived of as the first part of a longitudinal study of relocation and resettlement of public housing residents in Regent Park.
Description
Keywords
Public Housing, Relocation, Redevelopment, Gentrification