La présente recherche explore les interactions entre les différentes actrices d’un quartier dans un contexte de transformation urbaine, afin de comprendre en quoi ces interactions contribuent à façonner des identités sociales. Il s’agit de comprendre les dynamiques sociales qui se tissent entre les formes de pouvoir incarnées par les instances officielles, les médias et les résidentes d’un quartier. En s’appuyant sur le quartier Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (HM) à Montréal en cours de gentrification depuis le début des années 2000, cette recherche se penche sur l’hypothèse d’une identité sociale située, et montre que cette identité est liée aux discours médiatiques et officiels. Cette étude prend la forme d’une ethnographie rétrospective virtuelle qui plonge au cœur de la réalité socioéconomique du HM entre 2004 et 2023. L’étude transversale se concentre sur la période entre 2010 et 2012, au moment clé où discussions et actions visaient à transformer le quartier à travers la mise en place d’une opération marketing destinée à changer l’image du HM. L’étude longitudinale contextualise l’étude transversale et en vérifie les prolongements antérieurs et ultérieurs. Ces deux études conjointes ont été menées sur un grand corpus constitué d’un corpus médiatique composé d’articles tirés des journaux montréalais Le Devoir, La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal entre 2004 et 2023, du sous-corpus du corpus FRAN-HOMA 2012 (SC-FH), constitué de 38 entretiens sociolinguistiques réalisés en 2012 dans le HM, d’un corpus de locutrices du reportage YouTube « C’est quoi la gentrification à Hochelaga-Maisonneuve » réalisé en 2016 (R-YT) et composé de 15 locutrices du HM, d’un corpus communautaire, représenté par le site Web chlag.info en 2016 et 2017 et par les médias communautaires Le Fouineur libre (2004-2009) et La Serrure libre (2010-2012), et d’un corpus officiel contenant le plan stratégique de la Société de développement commercial (SDC) Promenade Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, composé de 85 pages de planification stratégique et marketing pour les deux artères commerciales du quartier. À travers ces différentes instances discursives, je m’intéresse aux toponymes utilisés par les actrices du corpus pour désigner le HM, et plus spécifiquement aux toponymes non officiels HoMa, Hochelag et Chlag. L’étude des toponymes révèle une dynamique complexe entre l’identité imposée de haut en bas par les instances officielles et les appropriations locales par les résidentes du quartier. Les médias traditionnels, en adoptant des toponymes tels que HoMa, contribuent à narrativiser la revitalisation, tandis que les résidentes du quartier, en privilégiant des appellations historiques ou populaires comme Hochelag et Chlag, manifestent une résistance à cette redéfinition et une affirmation de leur identité locale. Le cœur de cette recherche repose sur l’analyse de la façon dont les discours médiatiques et officiels sur la gentrification et la revitalisation interagissent avec les perceptions et les expériences vécues des résidentes. Cette interaction souligne l’existence d’une dualité au sein de l’identité sociale du quartier : d’une part, une vision modernisée et embourgeoisée promue par les médias et les promoteurs, et d’autre part, une identité plus ancrée et authentique ressentie par les résidentes. Cette dualité se traduit par des perceptions contrastées du processus de gentrification : certaines y voient une amélioration de la qualité de vie tandis que d’autres ressentent une perte d’authenticité et une menace à la cohésion sociale du quartier. L’analyse longitudinale et transversale du corpus révèle les dynamiques de résistance face à la gentrification. Alors que la SDC et les promoteurs tentent de remodeler l’image du quartier, une partie des résidentes exprime un désaccord, percevant ces efforts comme une forme de marginalisation et une menace pour l’identité historique et culturelle du quartier. Cette opposition est particulièrement évidente dans les discours des médias communautaires et des résidentes engagées contre la gentrification, qui mettent en lumière les tensions entre le développement économique et la préservation de l’identité sociale. Enfin, la recherche aborde la question de la mythogénèse dans la revitalisation du quartier. La création d’un mythe urbain autour du HM, soutenu par la SDC et relayé par les médias, vise à renforcer l’attachement des résidentes à leur quartier. Cependant, cette stratégie rencontre une résistance, car elle est perçue comme une tentative de réinvention artificielle de l’identité du quartier. Les résidentes cherchent à se réapproprier leur quartier en opposition à cette image idéalisée, mettant en relief une lutte pour le maintien de l’authenticité et de la réalité sociale du HM. Cette thèse révèle ainsi la complexité des dynamiques sociales dans un quartier en cours de gentrification. Elle met en lumière l’importance des discours médiatiques et officiels dans la formation de l’identité sociale et montre comment les résidentes naviguent et réagissent à ces influences pour maintenir une connexion avec l’histoire et l’identité réelle de leur communauté. / This research explores the interactions amongst various stakeholders within a neighborhood undergoing urban transformation, aiming to understand how these interactions play a part in shaping social identities. It delves into the social dynamics that weave between forms of power embodied by official institutions, the media, and neighborhood residents. Focusing on the gentrifying Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (HM) area in Montreal since the early 2000s, this study explores the hypothesis of a situated social identity of the neighborhood and demonstrates how this identity is linked to media and official discourses. The study adopts a virtual retrospective ethnography, immersing into the socio-economic reality of HM from 2004 to 2023. The cross-sectional analysis focuses on the period between 2010 and 2012, a critical time when discussions and actions aimed at transforming the neighborhood through a marketing operation intended to change HM’s image. The longitudinal study contextualizes and verifies the extensions of the cross-sectional study before and after this period. These joint studies were conducted on a large corpus comprising a media corpus of articles from Montreal newspapers Le Devoir, La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal between 2004 and 2023; the sub-corpus of the FRAN-HOMA 2012 (SC-FH), consisting of 38 sociolinguistic interviews conducted in 2012 in HM; a corpus of speakers from the 2016 YouTube report "What is Gentrification in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve?" (R-YT) composed of 15 HM speakers; a community corpus represented by the chlag.info website in 2016 and 2017, and community media Le Fouineur libre (2004-2009) and La Serrure libre (2010-2012); and an official corpus containing the strategic plan of the Société de développement commercial Promenade Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, consisting of 85 pages of strategic and marketing planning for the neighborhood’s commercial arteries. Through these various discursive instances, the study focuses on the toponyms used by the actors in the corpus, specifically the unofficial toponyms HoMa, Hochelag, and Chlag. This analysis of toponyms reveals a complex dynamic between top-down imposed identity by official entities and local appropriations by neighborhood residents. Traditional media, by adopting toponyms such as HoMa, contribute to narrating the revitalization, while neighborhood residents, preferring historical or popular names like Hochelag and Chlag, demonstrate resistance to this redefinition and affirm their local identity. The core of this research lies in analyzing how media and official discourses on gentrification and revitalization interact with residents’ perceptions and lived experiences. This interaction highlights a duality within the neighborhood’s social identity: on one hand, a modernized and gentrified vision promoted by the media and developers, and on the other, a more rooted and authentic identity felt by the residents. This duality is reflected in contrasting perceptions of the gentrification process, with some viewing it as an improvement in quality of life and others feeling a loss of authenticity and a threat to social cohesion. The longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the corpus reveals dynamics of resistance to gentrification. While the SDC and developers attempt to reshape the neighborhood’s image, some residents express disagreement, perceiving these efforts as a form of marginalization and a threat to the historic and cultural identity of the area. This opposition is particularly evident in the discourses of community media and residents actively engaged against gentrification, highlighting tensions between economic development and preservation of social identity. Finally, the research addresses the role of mythogenesis in the neighborhood’s revitalization. The creation of an urban myth around HM, supported by the SDC and relayed by the media, aims to strengthen residents’ attachment to their neighborhood. However, this strategy encounters resistance as it is perceived as an artificial reinvention of the neighborhood’s identity. Residents seek to reappropriate their neighborhood in opposition to this idealized image, highlighting a struggle to maintain authenticity and social reality. This thesis thus reveals the complexity of social dynamics in a gentrifying neighborhood. It illuminates the importance of media and official discourses in forming social identity and shows how residents navigate and react to these influences to maintain a connection with the history and real identity of their community.

Starbucks' success following Howard Schultz's purchase of the company in 1987 was largely the product of a particular historical moment, one rooted in the social and economic changes that manifested themselves in the built environment of the American metropolis from the 1970's to the present. Most contemporary observers saw Starbucks as a symbol of these changes – particularly those that fell under the complicated heading of gentrification – rather than recognizing it as an agent of change. This thesis reveals the development of Starbucks' character and expansion model from its humble beginnings in 1971. It offers an overview of the various theories of gentrification and neighborhood change, relating them to Seattle, and placing Starbucks within this narrative. Chapter three examines Starbucks as a commodity, a place, and a neighbor. As a commodity, the history and preparation of specialty coffee made it a de facto consumption choice for the rich, famous, and educated. Starbucks appropriated, packaged and marketed the drink's sophisticated characteristics toward its own ends. Meanwhile, Starbucks' claims of community centered on its perception and presentation as a "third place" – the public place of a new age. Finally, as a neighbor, Starbucks has been courted and rejected by communities, developers, and city governments seeking or spurning the changes – increased foot traffic, wealthier clientele, etc. – that often accompany the coffee giant's arrival to a neighborhood. Lastly, this thesis focuses on metropolitan areas, perhaps the most tangible places to think about capitalism and capitalist enterprises, with an emphasis on Seattle, Starbucks' native city.

This thesis advances knowledge of the diverse spatialities of gentrification by examining processes of change in coastal towns, drawing upon the case-study location of St Leonards-on-Sea, in the South East of England. Based on rich, empirical findings from semi-structured interviews, content analyses of local media sources, 2001 census data, and a household survey of 173 respondents, it is shown that processes of gentrification are unfolding in St Leonards. The findings suggest that it is beneficial to distinguish between coastal gentrification, and urban/rural gentrification. To emphasise this point, it is argued that there is merit in utilising the term coastification , in order to conceptualise the socio-cultural and economic transformations tied to in-migrants seeking the coastal idyll . The thesis disrupts some dominant theorisations of contemporary gentrification, identifying the presence of pioneer gentrifiers in a coastal town setting. It is contended that simply transferring the representations of urban gentrification to other socio-spatial locations along the urban-rural hierarchy is not a straightforward process. Therefore, gentrification-based regeneration policies should not be transferred in taken-for-granted ways from one location to another. A representation of coastification allows for a fuller appreciation of the effects of gentrification on coastal regeneration policies.

Gentrification applies not only to the largest and oldest cities; it is a multi-scalar phenomenon playing out in smaller and less prominent settings as well. This study examines temporal changes in property values, demographic characteristics, and types of businesses in the central Oklahoma City area. A major urban revitalization project which began in 1993 created strong gentrification characteristics near the renewal's epicenter, the Bricktown entertainment district. Data suggest that several specific neighborhoods in the surrounding area exhibited rising property values, improving educational attainment rates, decreasing household sizes, and a shift toward cosmopolitan retail activity. While it is evident that Bricktown has been transformed, the socio-economic traits of surrounding neighborhoods have been altered by the ripple effects of urban renewal.

Gentrification, a process conceived to result in displacement of lower-income urban residents, is difficult to measure quantitatively due to its qualitative, social impacts. Additionally, the phenomenon is a wicked problem, with no decisive definition or a set list of causes. Whereas researchers have instigated attempts to numerically measure gentrification, there is a lack of a systematic and universal approach to evaluate the concept. To investigate this issue, an iterative process took place using gentrification theory and explorative work. A test index was created using the inner boroughs of the UK’s capital, London, aiming to use data which should be available within all cities. Indicators for the index based on the two main theories of gentrification were attained for three different time periods from governmental and census records, creating a longitudinal study to establish how an area has changed, and whether gentrification has occurred. The technique presents evidence of increasing socio-economic status within many of London’s inner  boroughs, with evidence of rising employment rates, house prices and managerial role residents. The highest scoring boroughs were areas considered to be undergoing super-gentrification. From the index, the next borough to super-gentrify will be Hammersmith & Fulham. For first time gentrifying boroughs, their index changes sit within the middle of the borough rankings. It is believed that further analysis and advancements are required on the index to ensure prevention of data misuse, conclusive results, and further consideration of cultural, political or social changes, however new contributions have been made within this topic from considering gentrification from a wicked problem viewpoint.

This thesis explores the gentrification process in Church Hill, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia. After World War II, Richmond residents knew Church Hill mostly for its crime rate and dilapidated housing. The white, middle-class flight to the suburbs left the remaining residents, mostly African American, to experience decades of disinvestment. Church Hill was considered a neighborhood to avoid for much of the late twentieth century. Yet, Church Hill is currently one of the most desired neighborhoods in Richmond, particularly for young professionals. This thesis seeks to explain the reasons why there has been such a dramatic change in the perception of Church Hill and whether revitalization can occur without causing gentrification. Chapter 1 explores the top-down efforts of the Historic Richmond Foundation, a non-profit organization, and the Model Neighborhood Program, a federal program. Chapter 2 explores revitalization efforts by various non-profits organizations as each tried to work with community members. Chapter 3 explores the reasons why young professionals are moving into Church Hill and the impact of gentrification on the neighborhood.

This paper looks at how preservationists in Oregon Hill, a gentrifying neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, appropriated the identity of its working class residents, particularly through claims on a particular cluster of houses. By reframing the meaning of the houses, from homes to sites of historic significance, the preservationists began to “write” themselves into their environment. That is, by engaging the site of the houses both temporally (through narrative) and spatially (by establishing political boundaries), preservationists carved out a space for themselves in the neighborhood. This paper addresses the problems with this process, including the preservationists’ apparent lack of regard for a viable community as anything more than artifact, but also their masking of racial tensions in the neighborhood. Ultimately, though, it shows that preservation is a progressive act, and further, that place, rather than a representation of either progress or preservation, is actually the scene of the dialectic between both.

This dissertation examines the conventions used to frame and represent sweatshops in and to the U.S. Employing qualitative research methods this dissertation examines U.S. anti-sweatshop discourse, analyzing how the sweatshop and the sweatshop worker are made into exceptional objects of inquiry, and considers what kinds of truths and subjects are garnered from them. This dissertation argues that U.S. anti-sweatshop discourse frames sweatshops as an inherently foreign problem, and that this framing contributes to U.S. exceptionalism and savior ideology. This framing positions U.S. subjects as the primary agents of change whose relation to sweatshops is crucial to their eradication, and renders causal blame upon the racialized poor within the U.S. I argue that this framing undergirds the proliferation of new ethical markets that reproduce dislocation, dispossession, and displacement within U.S. borders via retail gentrification. Ultimately, this dissertation asks what truths are made possible through a mobilizing discourse whose foundational premise is contingent on the imagery of the sweatshop and the sweatshop worker.

Since Hurricane Katrina, targeting redevelopment has become the dominant municipal strategy for neighborhood and city-wide revitalization. Since 2009, this strategy has been adopted and is currently being implemented by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority in several New Orleans neighborhoods. One such area includes the commercial corridor of the Central City neighborhood, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard (OC Haley). This thesis describes and assesses NORA‘s strategy for revitalizing OC Haley with regards to impacts on Central City‘s economic development and affordable housing—two of the area‘s greatest challenges. Although NORA‘s targeting strategy is proving effective in many respects, it is not without its limitations including creating a gentrifying environment. To address this foreseeable impact, this thesis recommends the incorporation of a Community Land Trust (CLT) into NORA‘s Central City Strategy to aid in effectively revitalizing the neighborhood without compromising affordability.

Since the 1970s, when neoliberal policies and changing consumer patterns began remaking cities, scholars have conducted research about gentrification. In New Orleans, these studies have helped explain the demographic and economic shifts in some neighborhoods. However, there has been limited focus on the built environment aspects of gentrification in New Orleans, specifically the interpretation of the external aesthetic shifts in streetscapes as part of the gentrification process. This thesis examines the relationship between these aesthetics, primarily graffiti and street art, and the gentrification process, as perceived by various stakeholders in two New Orleans neighborhoods: St. Roch and Bywater. Using empirical, qualitative evidence, this thesis argues that graffiti and street art signify a culture and aestheticization of gentrification. Research methods for this thesis include participant observation, semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis. Keywords: Gentrification, New Orleans, Bywater, St. Roch, graffiti, street art, neighborhood change, blight, disinvestment, revitalization, creative class, neoliberalism, race, authenticity