Social worlds in transition : neighbourhood change in Grandview-Woodland, Vancouver

This study takes its lead from a rapidly expanding body of literature which has centred on the relatively recent urban phenomenon of 'Neighbourhood Revitalization' (i.e. the economic, social and cultural regeneration of inner-city core neighbourhoods in some of the older North American and European cities). An extensive reading of this literature reveals two fundamental failings that currently plague the research effort. First, many writers have tended to overemphasize the distinctiveness of the revitalization process with the net result that it has been treated as being conceptually separate from other, more established processes of neighbourhood change. Second, there has also been a tendency to concentrate attention on just one aspect of neighbourhood revitalization to the exclusion of others, and thus a failure to adequately reflect the multiple significance of the change that is occurring. In response to these failings, this particular study aims to accomplish a theoretical and empirical synthesis of first, the inner-city revitalization literature with the wider field of neighbourhood and community studies; and second, the various aspects of the revitalization process, with special reference to the merger of the socio-cultural and political dimensions of neighbourhood change. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and an empirical section. The principal concern of the former is to construct a consistent and comprehensive approach to the empirical case-study, at three distinct intellectual levels. First, a hermeneutic or 'humanistic' epistemology is selected because it has successfully shown that it can be simultaneously critical and interpretive, especially at the micro-scale of inter- and intra-group behaviour within a community. Second, based on these hermeneutic principles, a theoretical framework is developed which views the analytical unit of the neighbourhood as an ever-changing 'mosaic of social worlds'. Finally, a mixed methodology is adopted, which relies on both conventionally used, quantitative, data and more infrequently used types of qualitative data, derived from participant-observation in particular. The empirical case-study focusses on Grandview-Woodland, an old working-class neighbourhood in the East End of Vancouver. For many years, the area has been a target for a succession of newly-arrived immigrant groups, who have been predominantly engaged in blue-collar occupations. However, in recent years, there have been a number of indications that some parts of the area may be experiencing 'incipient gentrification', the first stage in neighbourhood revitalization. A 'New Wave' of students, radicals, feminists, gays, artists, pre-, semi- and full- professionals are now beginning to establish themselves in the various spheres of the Grandview-Woodland community. Along Commercial Drive, the local retailing strip, they have been responsible for the creation of a distinctive 'scene' that rivals the comparatively longer established Southern Mediterraneans as the dominant socio-cultural group. This duality is also reflected in the diverse streetscapes that are a strong motif of the neighbourhood's residential section. More significant however, has been the impact of the New Wave, particularly the more moderate property-owning element, upon the local political arena of Grandview-Woodland. This most recent phase of 'revitalization' is situated in the historical context of political development in the neighbourhood, which began with the merchants' initiatives in the inter- and post-war periods, and passed on in the 1960's to the control of professionals and student activists working in the area, and ultimately, to the local residents in the last decade. This study is primarily concerned with this latter stage, examining in detail the motives, interaction and implications of the involvement by various ethnic-, tenure- and class-based social worlds in local land use planning and neighbourhood improvement issues. The study's main conclusion is that analysts must become more aware of the limitations of applying generalized models to this process, including the stage model of settlement, and more crucially, the bi-polar model of the community's social structure (i.e. the distinction between 'gentrifiers' and 'incumbents'). In future, analysts of both neighbourhood revitalization and neighbourhood change in general, should make a concerted effort to look more deeply within these categories and critically assess their utility in understanding inter- and intra-group behaviour in the changing community.Arts, Faculty ofGeography, Department ofGraduat