Thesis Chapters by Aaron Vansintjan
PhD Dissertation (Unpublished), Nov 10, 2021
The Vietnamese saying, tấc đất tấc vàng, ‘a piece of land is a piece of gold’, used to mean t... more The Vietnamese saying, tấc đất tấc vàng, ‘a piece of land is a piece of gold’, used to mean that if you have a piece of land, it would always provide you with enough food to eat. Today, it means that if you own land in the city, you will be rich. These two meanings—land as fertile and abundant, land as a source of profit—point to the contradiction of value in an age of hyper-accelerated real estate speculation. Communities that fight for green parks or community gardens, making their neighbourhood greener and safer, may get displaced as their neighbourhood increases in value—value that they helped to create. What drives this paradox, where people’s everyday activities may lead to real estate profits, which in turn erodes the community of long-term residents? To answer this question, this study explores how people respond to gentrification in the day-to-day—what is here called ‘material life.’ Drawing on research in the cities of Hanoi and Montreal, narrated through people’s foodways—the material and social use of food—I show how poor people facing gentrification turn to material life to survive and resist the process. Gentrification, even if it does not lead to direct displacement, may lead to ‘life displacement’—which cuts across social-ecological relations. I trace how urban elites take advantage of this material life, drawing from community wealth to brand the neighbourhood. I find that the two-faced nature of material life under gentrification—its fecundity and its potential for return on investment—is both a site of extraction and new forms of struggle. Drawing on subaltern urbanism, political ecology, urban geography, and value theory, I argue that gentrification can be understood as a value conflict, where different forms of wealth are struggled over and ultimately sequestered into capitalist value.
The welfare state continues to be eroded in the Global North. In Canada and the U.S., food banks ... more The welfare state continues to be eroded in the Global North. In Canada and the U.S., food banks are now one of the only systems of relief available. But in both countries, critics have accused food banks of being apolitical and thus taking away government responsibility to address inequality. The rise of food banks has been linked to the decline of the welfare state, leading to an assumption that an increase in public assistance can end the need for food banks. Yet little research exists that examines how other institutions such as the food industry drove food bank growth, or how food banks are politically active. The history of food banks in Canada presents an informative case study because the state was not directly involved in establishing food banks, thus allowing greater insight into the role of industry in the institutionalization of food banks and their political activity. Using environmental institutions and political ecology frameworks we conducted a literature review and interviews of experts, as well as a case study of one food bank. Our findings suggest that the factors leading to the existence of food banks cannot only be linked to cuts in welfare; rather, the influence of industrial decline and centralization of the food industry must also be taken into account, as well as social movements and the policy gap around food waste. Food banks can be political, using available resources as ‘fuel’ to challenge government failure. The case of Canadian food banks indicates that, to address inequality and food insecurity in the Global North, researchers and policy-makers should not only focus on welfare but need to tackle the cost-shifting practices of the food industry and work toward joined-up and nested food policy institutions. Further, food banks, or organizations that look like them, can help address rising food insecurity if they are provided with sufficient legal, political, and financial support.
Papers by Aaron Vansintjan
The Green City and Social Injustice: Tales from North America and Europe, 2021
The neighborhood of Saint-Henri in Montréal’s Southwest borough has long been associated with po... more The neighborhood of Saint-Henri in Montréal’s Southwest borough has long been associated with poverty, marginality and squalor. But this is rapidly chang- ing as both extraordinary, large-scale green infrastructures and small-scale, more ordinary forms of greening are expanding across the neighborhood, amidst private luxury housing development and rising rents. Both extraordinary and ordinary greening are also connected to Saint-Henri’s transforming foodscape, where new gourmet restaurants and up-scale cafés, a renovated farmers’ mar- ket and renovated grocery stores are displacing the diners, dépanneurs (corner stores) and other food shops long frequented by working-class residents. What happens when, all at once, a community faces food gentrification, small-scale greening projects and large-scale green infrastructure? In this chapter we explore the greening-related tensions and inequities that are unfolding in Saint-Henri, where new multi-scalar greening projects and foodscapes are stitching together a post-industrial landscape to create new—and often exclusionary—forms of urban living. We also show how, at the intersection of these tensions, local com- munity groups have resisted and fought for alternative forms of development on multiple scales.
Minim Municipalism, 2021
During the last five years, we have seen major social and political upheavals across the United S... more During the last five years, we have seen major social and political upheavals across the United States and Canada. Yet beneath the surface of tumultuous events, such as the George Floyd uprisings, Donald Trump’s presidency, or the COVID19 pandemic, a new tendency of grassroots organizing is taking root. This report sketches out the constellation of radical municipalist projects in the US and Canada, organized around six nodes: economic democracy, social ecology, municipal socialism, tenant organizing, mutual aid, and Indigenous resurgence. A key goal for this report is to bring the lessons from North American struggles into conversation with municipalist movements around the world. We point out the unique conditions and challenges presented by the nature of the United States and Canada as two powerful Global North countries founded on African chattel slavery, Indigenous genocide, and staggering corporate power. We argue that the unique context in these countries has led to innovative experiments in municipalism, whereby municipalists are forced to confront issues of race, policing, mobility, settler colonialism, and migration on a daily basis. These experiments offer important lessons to global municipalist movements.
Eleanor Finley is a PhD candidate in cultural/social anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author of numerous articles about social ecology, municipalism, and direct democracy. She is currently working on her first book.
Aaron Vansintjan holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London studying gentrification and urban social movements from a political ecology perspective. He is a member of Minim Municipalism and is an editor of Uneven Earth.
This report has been produced thanks to the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
How can communities use research to develop more resilient and equitable food systems? This is on... more How can communities use research to develop more resilient and equitable food systems? This is one of the key questions driving the work of the Dawson’s Food Justice & Sustainability Hub.
From 2018 to 2020, we worked closely together with neighbourhood food organizations to develop research tools to improve their goals and mission. We are pleased to present the results of this community-based research project in a new report, Community-based Methodologies for Local Food Systems: a Toolkit.
The tools developed by each of our community partners can be used and adapted by organizations and researchers. We hope that it can inspire ideas for community-based methodologies for resilience and equity in local food systems, and help document successful interventions.
Healthbridge Canada, 2021
This report identifies challenges and best practices for private involvement in open p... more This report identifies challenges and best practices for private involvement in open public spaces. The report relies on academic literature and reports by non-governmental organizations as well as municipalities, predominantly published in English. A total of 42 journal articles and reports were analyzed. The analysis pays specific attention to non-Western contexts—in this regard, academic literature has less to offer compared to grey literature put together by international organizations. We also focus on more contemporary literature (2000‒present), which takes into account current developments in urbanization, especially in the Global South. The intended audience of the report is officials, local governments and civil society. The report discusses ways to overcome barriers or shortcomings stemming from the involvement of the private sector in open public space investment, design, management and maintenance. It also gives examples of innovative models that address these barriers from around the world, with the aim of inspiring decision-makers. Finally, the report outlines best practices for governments with regard to private involvement in the financing, development and management of open public spaces. The recommendations presented in this report are drawn from a wide array of sources and examples, from high-income to low-income countries. The report emphasizes that all municipalities have the capacity to build and maintain high-quality public spaces through involving private actors and avoid shortcomings and pitfalls discussed in the report.
The Ecologist , 2018
Every city has its graveyard of nonprofits, cooperatives, social clubs, and community centers. Wi... more Every city has its graveyard of nonprofits, cooperatives, social clubs, and community centers. Without a strategic vision, local projects cannot possibly amount to a systemic alternative to capitalism. The latest contribution from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."-Arundhati Roy
Progressive City, 2019
Montreal is one of North America's most politically vibrant cities, and is an important case stud... more Montreal is one of North America's most politically vibrant cities, and is an important case study highlighting the power of—and barriers to—radical municipalist organizing in a Western context. But, because Montreal is mostly French-speaking, its thriving social movements are often not heard about in the rest of North America. This is a shame, because its citizens have innovated what could be called "bottom-up" citizens’ welfare run by the people—with important lessons for movements elsewhere.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2020
How has the storage of information shaped human cognition? We bring together current advances in ... more How has the storage of information shaped human cognition? We bring together current advances in cognitive science, the neurobiology of memory, and archeology to explore how storage of information affects consciousness. These fields strongly suggest that the increase in storage of information in the environment – which we call exosomatic storage of information – may have led to changes in human consciousness and human neurophysiology over time. To bring these findings together conceptually, we develop what we call a dialectical model of the relationship between storage of information and the development of human consciousness. Using the system of dialectic philosophy, we put forward that (a) environmental changes, consciousness, and neurophysiology develop together, (b) these changes were irreversible, (c) quantitative increases in exosomatic storage of information may have led to qualitative changes in human consciousness and neurophysiology, (d) these changes in turn affected how we see ourselves. Indeed, our capacity to store information exosomatically distinguishes us from other animals, and may be a key attribute of our self-awareness and therefore self-consciousness. Because metaphors are central to human thought and can help structure scientific inquiry, we illustrate our model using a metaphor of drops of silver on the back of a glass, eventually making a mirror – where successive quantitative change leads to an irreversible qualitative development in human consciousness. The dialectic model can offer new insights into the co-evolution of material culture and human beings through its broader philosophical foundations and explanatory power.
The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bor... more The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bordered by Town of Mount-Royal (to the West), Outremont and Marconi-Alexandra (to the South), Rosemont (to the East) and shopping district Marché Central to the North.
Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network.
In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood.
Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings
Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly.
Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized.
Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities
Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension.
Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers.
Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward
Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation.
Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them.
Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing.
Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2019
Paper available in open access at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02523/... more Paper available in open access at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02523/full
Recent developments in science and technology point to the need to unify, and extend, the definition of memory. On the one hand, molecular neurobiology has shown that memory is largely a neuro-chemical process, which includes conditioning and any form of stored experience. On the other hand, information technology has led many to claim that cognition is also extended, that is, memory may be stored outside of the brain. In this paper, we review these advances and describe an extended definition of memory. This definition is largely accepted in neuroscience but not explicitly stated. In the extended definition, memory is the capacity to store and retrieve information. Does this new definition of memory mean that everything is now a form of memory? We stress that memory still requires incorporation, that is, in corpore. It is a relationship – where one biological or chemical process is incorporated into another, and changes both in a permanent way. Looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition. We further argue that, if we accept that there is such a thing as the storage of information outside the brain – and that this organic, dynamic process can also be called “memory” – then we open the door to a very different world. The mind is not static. The brain, and the memory it uses, is a work in progress; we are not now who we were then.
This study, commissioned by the Greens in the European Parliament and the Green European Foundati... more This study, commissioned by the Greens in the European Parliament and the Green European Foundation, catalogued post-growth practices and policies in six fields:
1. Job creation
2. Basic and maximum income and job guarantee
3. Tax collection
4. Financing the social safety net
5. Monetary system and banking
6. International equality
Sociology factors of nutrition and foods
Today, Vietnam's urbanization and food systems are at a crossroads. A changing food system and a ... more Today, Vietnam's urbanization and food systems are at a crossroads. A changing food system and a changing urban landscape stand to have very different impacts to people of different socio-economic backgrounds. Relying on data from participatory observation research of low-income residents in Hanoi, I argue that this moment marks an important decision-point for Vietnamese urban planners and policy-makers. Vietnam can choose to continue its current path, attempting to mirror cities like Singapore or Hong Kong, to 'clean up' the city streets, while strongly supporting supermarkets. While this may lead to more foreign investment and immediate returns on high-end real estate development, this path will undoubtedly lead Vietnam's cities to become more unequal and inaccessible, eventually limiting the potential for long-term development. Or it can choose to support those practices—often self-managed, small-scale, and entrepreneurial—that make the city accessible for low-income urban residents, thereby also making its cities more diverse, vibrant, and safe.
This essay is an attempt to stir up and encourage debates on limits, scarcity, and abundance in t... more This essay is an attempt to stir up and encourage debates on limits, scarcity, and abundance in the city. Relying largely on the work of Murray Bookchin (1992), I argue that the process of urbanisation imposes ‘scarcity’ (i.e. people’s inability to use their milieu to generate resources) by hampering vibrant, organic, political engagement. I suggest a distinction between ‘the city’ and ‘the urban’. While urbanisation relies on imposed and regulated scarcity, it also floods the world with synthetic abundance. A degrowth municipality, properly understood, would be oriented toward openness, collective sufficiency and organic abundance, i.e. the multiplication of relationships required to develop a robust democratic system. This, I argue, is different from proposals such as the ‘ecovillage’ or ‘urban village’, which do not adequately take into account scale and a politics of difference. Degrowth municipalism, understood here as the politicisation and downscaling of municipalities' social metabolism necessary to achieve a more just society, will require the creation of an organic citizenship, or, the citification of urban space.
Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering, 2019
Citation: Vansintjan, A., Nguyen V., Le C., and Nguyen T. “Adaptation Strategies Used by Low-Inco... more Citation: Vansintjan, A., Nguyen V., Le C., and Nguyen T. “Adaptation Strategies Used by Low-Income Residents Affected by Land Use Changes in Hanoi, Vietnam”. Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering (STCE) - NUCE, Vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 78-88,
Since Vietnam shifted to a market-economy in the 1980s, Hanoi has seen rapid urban expansion similar to that of other South East Asian cities—involving megaprojects, luxury developments, rural-to-urban migration, informal housing construction, and escalating speculation. Researchers have considered how unemployment and the disruption of community life followed urbanization of rural areas; however, little has been said about how people adjusted their everyday life to cope with the changes. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, participatory observation, oral histories, and surveys, our research investigated adaptation strategies of low-income residents in the face of land use changes that are beyond their control. Our main research site is Tay Ho—previously a conglomeration of agricultural villages that has, in the past 20 years, witnessed rapid transformation through large-scale government-funded infrastructures, luxury housing, and smaller lodgings built by individual households for migrant workers. We identify four main adaptation strategies used by residents. First, people turn to food as a safety net. Running small street stalls, selling goods in local markets, and delivering to restaurants are common. Second, as farms transform into roads and buildings, people take advantage of public space to garden and socialize with neighbours. Third, gender division is significant as women are often excluded from the male-dominated land inheritance system and the formal economy, so they turn to informal trade, which offers autonomy and helps to develop social connections. Fourth, as land is stripped away and compensated by a lump sum of cash, people build social capital to persevere. Our findings suggest that, in the context of rising global speculation, the urbanization of the countryside, and the need to ensure the sustainability and inclusivity of cities, urban planners and policy-makers must take into account the way by which low-income residents continue to rely on environmental and social capital to adapt to changes.
Peri-urban areas in developing Southeast Asia are undergoing profound transformations. Formerly a... more Peri-urban areas in developing Southeast Asia are undergoing profound transformations. Formerly agrarian places surrounding fast-growing agglomerations such as Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, and Hanoi have become dynamic sites of encounter between urban and rural built forms, activities and ways of life. The resulting urban formations belie conceptions of a neat cleavage between city and countryside. Since at least the 1980s, rural traditional villages at Hanoi's periphery have been absorbed into the urban fabric. The tightly knit community of traditional village life—based on religion, kinship ties and common use of space—has been breaking up. This phenomenon has been attributed to four processes. First and foremost, the formerly rural population has adopted what might be called " urban " ways of life, which focuses more on individuality—possibly linked to a decline in traditional values. Second is tighter control of the urban administration system. Thirdly, around Hanoi, as in many other densely settled regions of developing Southeast Asia, village-based urbanization processes have recently been confronted with a new, exogenous form of peri-urban space production: the massive development of so-called " new urban areas " —large-scale land redevelopment dominated by residential housing, geared toward expats and high-and middle-income residents. The consequent loss of farmland often leads to the reduction of communities' spaces of production and reproduction. Last but not least, urbanization has involved a high influx of underemployed and low-skilled rural migrants. This paper outlines how public space in peri-urban villages has transformed—with the assumption that these changes are reflecting broader changes in society. Relying on qualitative surveys and mapping, the research involved a case study of Nhat Tan village, a thousand-year old peach flower village strongly affected by Ciputra Hanoi (West Thang Long), the first new urban area in Hanoi. After describing traditional community space structures in the Red River delta and Hanoi's urbanism, we present the analytical results of the survey. The research identifies emerging networks of public space that help to make the community resilient. The paper also contributes an initial exploration of the uses of the terms of " public " space in the context of the Vietnamese contemporary city.
The combined issues of climate change, food price volatility, and urban population growth indicat... more The combined issues of climate change, food price volatility, and urban population growth indicate the need for more resilient food systems in cities. Two most prominent policy approaches—wealth redistribution and market deregulation— are by themselves insufficient in guaranteeing food sovereignty on a local level. We wish to introduce two frameworks that can provide some theoretical tools to under- stand the governance structures needed for supporting local food projects: joined-up food policy and a nested institutions and approach. To illustrate the application of these frameworks, we discuss a case study of the history of food banks in Canada, as well as an in-depth study of one food bank in Montreal, Quebec. This research has several implications that may be of benefit to policy-makers, researchers, and food activists. First, it provides an outline of a framework that can help understand barriers to urban food sovereignty, as well as suggest recommendations for alternative policy approaches that meet the 21st century challenge of multi-actor and multi-level governance.
Food banks are often depicted as band-aid solutions to hunger and poverty. However, little is kno... more Food banks are often depicted as band-aid solutions to hunger and poverty. However, little is known about what barriers food banks face to changing their practices, how their relationships to the food industry affect their operations, and how they engage with civil society and governance structures.
This research project examined the history of food banks in Canada and involved an in-depth case study of one food bank in Verdun, Montreal. It involved a literature review and a series of interviews of food bank experts around Canada, many of who had been involved in the sector for over thirty years. The case study examined the food banks from material, social, cultural, financial, and political perspectives, relying on interviews, on-site participatory research, and surveys.
Conference Presentations by Aaron Vansintjan
Presentation of research and policy proposals at:
Local Urban Food Policies in the Global Food S... more Presentation of research and policy proposals at:
Local Urban Food Policies in the Global Food Sovereignty Debate
Ghent, 11 — 12 June 2015
Hosted by Ghent City Council and Universiteit Gent
Presentation at ESEE 2015 conference, in Leeds.
We propose a "cost-shifting" framework to analyze... more Presentation at ESEE 2015 conference, in Leeds.
We propose a "cost-shifting" framework to analyze the food bank system, which necessitates looking at food waste as an issue of environmental justice.
Uploads
Thesis Chapters by Aaron Vansintjan
Papers by Aaron Vansintjan
Eleanor Finley is a PhD candidate in cultural/social anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author of numerous articles about social ecology, municipalism, and direct democracy. She is currently working on her first book.
Aaron Vansintjan holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London studying gentrification and urban social movements from a political ecology perspective. He is a member of Minim Municipalism and is an editor of Uneven Earth.
This report has been produced thanks to the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
From 2018 to 2020, we worked closely together with neighbourhood food organizations to develop research tools to improve their goals and mission. We are pleased to present the results of this community-based research project in a new report, Community-based Methodologies for Local Food Systems: a Toolkit.
The tools developed by each of our community partners can be used and adapted by organizations and researchers. We hope that it can inspire ideas for community-based methodologies for resilience and equity in local food systems, and help document successful interventions.
"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."-Arundhati Roy
Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network.
In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood.
Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings
Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly.
Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized.
Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities
Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension.
Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers.
Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward
Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation.
Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them.
Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing.
Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
Recent developments in science and technology point to the need to unify, and extend, the definition of memory. On the one hand, molecular neurobiology has shown that memory is largely a neuro-chemical process, which includes conditioning and any form of stored experience. On the other hand, information technology has led many to claim that cognition is also extended, that is, memory may be stored outside of the brain. In this paper, we review these advances and describe an extended definition of memory. This definition is largely accepted in neuroscience but not explicitly stated. In the extended definition, memory is the capacity to store and retrieve information. Does this new definition of memory mean that everything is now a form of memory? We stress that memory still requires incorporation, that is, in corpore. It is a relationship – where one biological or chemical process is incorporated into another, and changes both in a permanent way. Looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition. We further argue that, if we accept that there is such a thing as the storage of information outside the brain – and that this organic, dynamic process can also be called “memory” – then we open the door to a very different world. The mind is not static. The brain, and the memory it uses, is a work in progress; we are not now who we were then.
1. Job creation
2. Basic and maximum income and job guarantee
3. Tax collection
4. Financing the social safety net
5. Monetary system and banking
6. International equality
Since Vietnam shifted to a market-economy in the 1980s, Hanoi has seen rapid urban expansion similar to that of other South East Asian cities—involving megaprojects, luxury developments, rural-to-urban migration, informal housing construction, and escalating speculation. Researchers have considered how unemployment and the disruption of community life followed urbanization of rural areas; however, little has been said about how people adjusted their everyday life to cope with the changes. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, participatory observation, oral histories, and surveys, our research investigated adaptation strategies of low-income residents in the face of land use changes that are beyond their control. Our main research site is Tay Ho—previously a conglomeration of agricultural villages that has, in the past 20 years, witnessed rapid transformation through large-scale government-funded infrastructures, luxury housing, and smaller lodgings built by individual households for migrant workers. We identify four main adaptation strategies used by residents. First, people turn to food as a safety net. Running small street stalls, selling goods in local markets, and delivering to restaurants are common. Second, as farms transform into roads and buildings, people take advantage of public space to garden and socialize with neighbours. Third, gender division is significant as women are often excluded from the male-dominated land inheritance system and the formal economy, so they turn to informal trade, which offers autonomy and helps to develop social connections. Fourth, as land is stripped away and compensated by a lump sum of cash, people build social capital to persevere. Our findings suggest that, in the context of rising global speculation, the urbanization of the countryside, and the need to ensure the sustainability and inclusivity of cities, urban planners and policy-makers must take into account the way by which low-income residents continue to rely on environmental and social capital to adapt to changes.
This research project examined the history of food banks in Canada and involved an in-depth case study of one food bank in Verdun, Montreal. It involved a literature review and a series of interviews of food bank experts around Canada, many of who had been involved in the sector for over thirty years. The case study examined the food banks from material, social, cultural, financial, and political perspectives, relying on interviews, on-site participatory research, and surveys.
Conference Presentations by Aaron Vansintjan
Local Urban Food Policies in the Global Food Sovereignty Debate
Ghent, 11 — 12 June 2015
Hosted by Ghent City Council and Universiteit Gent
We propose a "cost-shifting" framework to analyze the food bank system, which necessitates looking at food waste as an issue of environmental justice.
Eleanor Finley is a PhD candidate in cultural/social anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author of numerous articles about social ecology, municipalism, and direct democracy. She is currently working on her first book.
Aaron Vansintjan holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London studying gentrification and urban social movements from a political ecology perspective. He is a member of Minim Municipalism and is an editor of Uneven Earth.
This report has been produced thanks to the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
From 2018 to 2020, we worked closely together with neighbourhood food organizations to develop research tools to improve their goals and mission. We are pleased to present the results of this community-based research project in a new report, Community-based Methodologies for Local Food Systems: a Toolkit.
The tools developed by each of our community partners can be used and adapted by organizations and researchers. We hope that it can inspire ideas for community-based methodologies for resilience and equity in local food systems, and help document successful interventions.
"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."-Arundhati Roy
Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network.
In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood.
Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings
Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly.
Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized.
Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities
Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension.
Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers.
Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward
Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation.
Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them.
Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing.
Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
Recent developments in science and technology point to the need to unify, and extend, the definition of memory. On the one hand, molecular neurobiology has shown that memory is largely a neuro-chemical process, which includes conditioning and any form of stored experience. On the other hand, information technology has led many to claim that cognition is also extended, that is, memory may be stored outside of the brain. In this paper, we review these advances and describe an extended definition of memory. This definition is largely accepted in neuroscience but not explicitly stated. In the extended definition, memory is the capacity to store and retrieve information. Does this new definition of memory mean that everything is now a form of memory? We stress that memory still requires incorporation, that is, in corpore. It is a relationship – where one biological or chemical process is incorporated into another, and changes both in a permanent way. Looking at natural and biological processes of incorporation can help us think of how incorporation of internal and external memory occurs in cognition. We further argue that, if we accept that there is such a thing as the storage of information outside the brain – and that this organic, dynamic process can also be called “memory” – then we open the door to a very different world. The mind is not static. The brain, and the memory it uses, is a work in progress; we are not now who we were then.
1. Job creation
2. Basic and maximum income and job guarantee
3. Tax collection
4. Financing the social safety net
5. Monetary system and banking
6. International equality
Since Vietnam shifted to a market-economy in the 1980s, Hanoi has seen rapid urban expansion similar to that of other South East Asian cities—involving megaprojects, luxury developments, rural-to-urban migration, informal housing construction, and escalating speculation. Researchers have considered how unemployment and the disruption of community life followed urbanization of rural areas; however, little has been said about how people adjusted their everyday life to cope with the changes. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, participatory observation, oral histories, and surveys, our research investigated adaptation strategies of low-income residents in the face of land use changes that are beyond their control. Our main research site is Tay Ho—previously a conglomeration of agricultural villages that has, in the past 20 years, witnessed rapid transformation through large-scale government-funded infrastructures, luxury housing, and smaller lodgings built by individual households for migrant workers. We identify four main adaptation strategies used by residents. First, people turn to food as a safety net. Running small street stalls, selling goods in local markets, and delivering to restaurants are common. Second, as farms transform into roads and buildings, people take advantage of public space to garden and socialize with neighbours. Third, gender division is significant as women are often excluded from the male-dominated land inheritance system and the formal economy, so they turn to informal trade, which offers autonomy and helps to develop social connections. Fourth, as land is stripped away and compensated by a lump sum of cash, people build social capital to persevere. Our findings suggest that, in the context of rising global speculation, the urbanization of the countryside, and the need to ensure the sustainability and inclusivity of cities, urban planners and policy-makers must take into account the way by which low-income residents continue to rely on environmental and social capital to adapt to changes.
This research project examined the history of food banks in Canada and involved an in-depth case study of one food bank in Verdun, Montreal. It involved a literature review and a series of interviews of food bank experts around Canada, many of who had been involved in the sector for over thirty years. The case study examined the food banks from material, social, cultural, financial, and political perspectives, relying on interviews, on-site participatory research, and surveys.
Local Urban Food Policies in the Global Food Sovereignty Debate
Ghent, 11 — 12 June 2015
Hosted by Ghent City Council and Universiteit Gent
We propose a "cost-shifting" framework to analyze the food bank system, which necessitates looking at food waste as an issue of environmental justice.