Exploring resident experiences of displacement in a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification and mega-project development : a Montréal case study.

S’il existe un nombre important de recherches portant sur les causes de la gentrification dans les quartiers centraux, tres peu portent un regard critique sur ses effets sur les residents de longue date. Cette lacune s’explique en partie par les contraintes methodologiques implicites liees a la recherche les personnes deplacees. Recemment, l’arrivee du concept de « new build gentrification » a conduit les chercheurs a s’interroger sur les effets du deplacement indirect, c’est-a-dire les effets des changements causes par la gentrification dans un quartier, tels qu’ils sont vecus par les residents de longue date. La presente these fait une contribution importante a la litterature en declinant le concept de deplacement indirect en quatre types: deplacement culturel, deplacement social, deplacement politique et deplacement d’exclusion. Afin de verifier s’il permet de comprendre les significations du deplacement a partir de l’experience vecue des residents de longue date, ce cadre a ete mis a l’epreuve dans une etude de cas du quartier Saint-Henri, un quartier en voie de gentrification a Montreal. Des entretiens semi-diriges avec 40 residents de longue date ont permis d’approfondir les connaissances sur le deplacement dans ses formes directes et indirectes. De plus, des entrevues avec des informateurs cle apportent de nouvelles perspectives sur l’experience vecue du deplacement direct. Ces informateurs habitent des logements cibles pour expropriation, suite au reamenagement d’une infrastructure de transport importante a Montreal. La these presente egalement une typologie des differentes reactions emotionnelles liees a la menace de deplacement. Les perceptions qu’ont les residents des changements physiques et demographiques en cours a Saint-Henri revelent la cohabitation fragile entre les residents de longue date et les nouveaux arrivants dans un quartier en voie de gentrification. La typologie des experiences vecues liees a la menace de deplacement souligne la complexite de la palette d’emotions liees a ces changements, qui touchent particulierement les personnes âgees et celles qui ont ete delogees plusieurs fois. Les declinaisons du concept de deplacement indirect nuancent de facon importante les differentes significations du deplacement telles que vecues par les residents de longue date a Saint-Henri et la configuration des sentiments qu’il suscite. Cette these emet des recommandations pour les futures recherches sur le deplacement, incluant une attention particuliere portee aux points de vue des anciens residents et a l’approfondissement de l’impact du deplacement (dans les formes directes et indirectes) sur la sante mentale des groupes marginalises ===== While there has been extensive research into the causes of gentrification in inner-city neighbourhoods, its effects on incumbent residents have received far less critical assessment due in part to methodological constraints inherent in finding the displaced. More recently, the onset of new-build gentrification has led researchers to emphasize the need to explore the effects of indirect displacement, i.e. the effects of neighbourhood change wrought by gentrification as experienced by incumbent residents still living in place. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the literature through conceptual refinement of the concept of indirect displacement into four constituent types: cultural displacement, social displacement, political displacement and exclusionary displacement. Through the use of a case study methodological strategy, we test this framework in order to assess whether it is useful in order to understand the meaning of displacement in the lives of incumbent residents in Saint-Henri, a gentrifying neighbourhood in Montreal. Furthermore, it adds substantive knowledge on the experience of direct displacement through key informant interviews with residents whose housing is slated for expropriation due to the redevelopment of a major piece of transportation infrastructure in Montreal. A typology of different types of resident reactions to the threat of displacement is presented. It utilizes semi-structured interviews with 40 incumbent residents in order to nuance existing knowledge on displacement in both direct and indirect forms. Resident perceptions of physical and demographic changes underway in Saint-Henri reveal the tenuous cohabitation of incumbent and incoming populations in a gentrifying neighbourhood. The typology of resident experiences of the threat of direct displacement highlights complex emotional landscapes in the face of such changes, which are particularly acute for long-term elderly residents and serial displacees. The refinement of the concept of indirect displacement adds significant nuance to the varied meanings of displacement in incumbent renters’ lives in Saint-Henri and the structures of feeling associated with it. Recommendations for future displacement research arising from this analysis include the need for further investigation of displacement from below, and for deeper understanding of the impact of displacement (in direct and indirect forms) upon the mental health of disenfranchised groups.