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

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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.
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    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.
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