36 Blood Alley Square: Housing histories of conflict and co-production

This case study examines the ways in which three distinct models of social housing were constituted through processes of conflict and coproduction between non-profits, state bodies, and private actors at one site in Vancouver. By tracking the shifting influence and capacity of activists, non-profits, planners, private developers, and state housing agencies over time through the lens of one site, I show how housing in contested neighbourhoods is produced and retained through a complex web of actors and power relations. While much urban scholarship portrays low-income neighbourhoods as passively subject to tides of capital and whims of planning, my research shows how both past and present relations between a wide array of local stakeholders collectively shape the way that macro-processes have manifested at the neighbourhood level. Finally, I suggest that the current redevelopment offers a 'space of hope' in balancing the broad goals of the neighbourhood.