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Banishment through Branding: From Montréal’s Red Light District to Quartier des Spectacles

Author

Listed:
  • Rhianne Fiolka

    (School of Urban Planning, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C2, Canada)

  • Zack Marshall

    (School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B9, Canada
    Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada)

  • Anna Kramer

    (School of Urban Planning, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C2, Canada)

Abstract

This paper analyzes how the City of Montréal employed tools of urban planning—including a district plan, street redesign, rezoning, selective public consultation, expropriation, policing and surveillance—to spatially banish sex work from its historic district, using the red light symbol as a branding strategy. This coincided with a change in federal law (Bill C-36) and a policy shift to reposition sex workers as passive victims of sex trafficking. Using a case study design, this work explores the state’s refusal to recognize the agency of those engaged in embodied socio-economic exchanges and the safety and solidarity possible in public space. In interviews, sex workers described strategies of collective organizing, resistance and protest to hold the city accountable during this process of displacement. We consider how urban planning might support sex work, sex workers and economic autonomy.

Suggested Citation

  • Rhianne Fiolka & Zack Marshall & Anna Kramer, 2022. "Banishment through Branding: From Montréal’s Red Light District to Quartier des Spectacles," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:9:p:420-:d:914728
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phil Hubbard & Spike Boydell & Penny Crofts & Jason Prior & Glen Searle, 2013. "Noxious Neighbours? Interrogating the Impacts of Sex Premises in Residential Areas," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(1), pages 126-141, January.
    2. Samuel Lee & Petra Persson, 2022. "Human Trafficking and Regulating Prostitution," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 87-127, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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