Re-wilding Parkdale? Environmental gentrification, settler colonialism, and the reconfiguration of nature in 21st century Toronto

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4464752
AutoresJane Parish (0000-0001-7932-3571, York University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen3
Número1
Páginas263-286
Fecha de publicación2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEnvironment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2514848619868110
OpenAlexW2967657318
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas39

In 21st century Toronto, the labour of caring for urban trees is entangled with both gentrification processes and the social reproduction of settler colonial space. This paper contributes to the study of environmental gentrification through a study of the social reproduction of settler colonial relations to land in the Parkdale-High Park area of Toronto. Specifically, I take up the hyper-visibility of some forms of social reproduction, in order to shed light on how the mundane, quotidian 'non-work' of living in/with/for capitalism becomes a site of privilege and a luxury pursuit for more affluent residents. The paper highlights the processes and practices whereby settler colonial urban subjects seek out 'nature' as a temporary outside where they can escape from widely accepted downsides of capitalist urbanism, including a diverse array of social and physical ills, from stress, to obesity, to ecological degradation. The paper asks: whose social reproduction does the presence of urban trees serve? In the context of 21st century financialized gentrification, cities are increasingly normalized as spaces of wealth and luxury. It is therefore crucial to pay attention to the raced, gendered, and colonial micro-politics through which urban ecologies are transformed in the service of an anti-democratic vision of the city as a space of leisure and luxury

Capitalism · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Gentrification · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Reproduction · Social capital · Social reproduction · Social science · Sociology · Urbanism · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Urban Green Space and Health · Architecture · Ecology