A Study of the Role of Small Ethnic Retail Grocery Stores in Urban Renewal in a Social Housing Project, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

Urban renewal often drives away the original residents, replacing them with higher income residents who can afford the new spaces, leading to gentrification. Urban renewal that takes place over many years can create uncertainties for retailers and residents, exacerbating the gentrification process. This qualitative study explored how the urban renewal process in a multi-cultural social housing neighborhood in Toronto (Regent Park) affected the small ethnic retail grocery stores (SERGS) that supplied ethnic foods and items to the ethnic populations living there. Interviews were conducted with ten SERGS store owners/managers and 16 ethnic residents who lived in Regent Park before renewal and were displaced, or who were displaced and returned. The SERGS stated that they provided culturally familiar items and offered a social credit scheme that recognized existing social relationships and allowed low-income residents to afford food and other amenities in a dignified manner and pay later, without penalty or interest. At the same time, the SERGS were unsupported during the renewal, were excluded from the civic planning processes, could not compete for space in the new buildings, and experienced declining sales and loss of business. The residents stated that the SERGS were trusted, provided a valued cultural social spaces for ethnic identity formation, and ethnic food security but they faced many uncertainties about the role of SERGS in a renewed neighborhood. Based on this study, it is recommended that ethnic retailers be recognized for the role they play in formulating ethnic identities and food security in mixed-use mixed-income communities and that they be included in planning processes during urban renewal. Such recognition may enable more former residents to return and lessen the gentrification.

Gentrification and Food Environments: A Rapid Evidence Assessment

“…Use of longitudinal data or repeated measures of cross-sectional data do not resolve the issue of confounding as neighbourhoods themselves also change over time (Lytle 2009). The four studies using residents (Whittle et al 2015, Komakech and Jackson 2016, Loda et al 2020, Sánchez-Ledesma et al 2020 were also prone to confounding, as people are not 'randomly assigned' to neighbourhoods, but may live there due to income, proximity to work, or other factors (Lytle 2009).…”

“…Three low quality studies (Anguelovski 2015, Whittle et al 2015, Komakech and Jackson 2016, one low-medium quality study (Sánchez-Ledesma et al 2020) and one medium quality study (Breyer and Voss-Andreae 2013) explored the issue of affordability for original residents. Three of these five (Breyer and Voss-Andreae 2013, Anguelovski 2015, Komakech and Jackson 2016 considered prices relative to the purchasing power of certain groups. One paper (Whittle et al 2015) explored a mechanism on the demand side, whereby high rents due to gentrification in San Francisco reduced the food budgets of people living with HIV.…”

“…Study inclusion and exclusion criteriaNine studies(Breyer and Voss-Andreae 2013, Anguelovski 2015, Komakech and Jackson 2016, Bilal et al 2018, Rhodes-Bratton et al 2018, Berger et al 2019, Kosta 2019, Loda et al 2020, Sánchez- Ledesma et al 2020 explored the effect of gentrification (or socioeconomic status (SES) as a proxy), on one or more domains of the food environment. The most common outcome measured, in five studies,(Rhodes et al 2009, Bilal et al 2018, Berger et al 2019, Kosta 2019, Loda et al 2020 was change in types of food outlets using repeated cross-sectional measures or longitudinal data.…”

Key Variables for Decision-Making on Urban Renewal in China: A Case Study of Chongqing

“…I 30 Water quality I 71 The opportunity for investors to participate in real estate cycle I 31 Soil pollution I 72 New business opportunity I 32 Noise pollution I 73 Impact on corporate image I 33 Light …”

“…The role of different stakeholders in urban renewal decision-making is critical to the quality of decision-making [23]. Public participation in urban renewal is especially helpful to the government for working out more acceptable urban renewal plans [20,32,33]. Therefore, according to the opinions of each stakeholder, full consideration should be given to their role in the urban renewal process.…”