Neoliberalizing Social Justice in Infrastructure Revitalization Planning: Analyzing Toronto's More Moss Park Project in Its Early Stages

Abstract

A public consultation process is currently underway to gather ideas on the revitalization of a park and community center in one of Toronto's most economically diverse neighborhoods. This project is a partnership between a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-focused community center, a private philanthropist, and the City of Toronto. In this article, we argue that More Moss Park is illustrative of the neoliberalization of social justice, in which social justice is touted as central to both the end goal of the project and the planning process that will shape it. We focus on three political moves that underwrite the neoliberalization of social justice in the project. The first is the technicalization of social justice as “know-how,” a form of expertise that one of the main partners claims to have gained via its history of working for sexual minority communities and that it claims to be able to offer in other sociospatial contexts. The second is the normalization of an anonymous private donor as a necessary “silent” partner in urban development whose foremost concern is social justice in the form of neighborhood improvements for marginalized communities. The third is the use of crises of neighborhood insecurity and of budget shortfalls as planning problems whose solutions rest on the suspension of normal planning approaches, thus justifying the use of a public–private partnership. These moves illustrate the ways in which social justice has become neoliberalized not only through narrowing its scope but also through using it as ideological armature to mask marginalizations emerging from urban neoliberalism itself.

多伦多一处经济最为多样化的社区之一, 正在进行公共咨询过程, 以搜集有关公园与社区中心活化的想法。该计画是由聚焦女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者 (LGBT) 的社区中心、私人慈善家, 以及多伦多市政府所形成的伙伴关系。我们于本文中主张, 莫尔莫斯公园能够说明社会正义的新自由主义化, 其中社会正义被吹捧为该计画最终目标与达成该目标的规划过程之核心。我们聚焦支持该计画中社会正义的新自由主义化之三大政治行动。第一是将社会正义技术化为 “专门知识” ——主要伙伴中的一员宣称透过与性别少数社群一同工作的历史中获得、并且能够在其他社会空间脉络中提供的专业形式。第二是将匿名私人捐赠人视为城市发展中的必要 “静默” 伙伴, 且视其最重要的考量为改善边缘化社群邻里的社会正义形式的常态化。第三则是利用邻里不安全的危机与预算赤字, 作为需透过终止正常规划方法、从而正当化公—司伙伴运用进行解决的规划问题。这些行动, 描绘了社会正义不但透过窄化其范畴、同时透过运用其作为意识形态工具来掩盖从城市新自由主义本身浮现的边缘化, 从而迈向新自由主义化的方式。

Actualmente se lleva a cabo un proceso de consulta pública para explorar ideas sobre la revitalización de un parque y un centro comunitario en uno de los vecindarios de Toronto más diversificados desde el punto de vita económico. Este proyecto es una compañía entre un centro comunitario de orientación lesbiana, gay, bisexual y transgénero (LGBT), un filántropo privado y la Ciudad de Toronto. En este artículo sostenemos que el Parque More Moss es ilustrativo de la neoliberalización de la justicia social, en la cual la justicia social es promocionada como central tanto para la meta final del proyecto como para el proceso de planificación que lo configurará. Nos concentramos sobre tres movidas políticas que subrayan la neoliberalización de la justicia social en el proyecto. La primera es la “tecnicalización” de la justicia social como “know-how” (saber cómo), una forma de experticia que uno de los principales socios reclama haber ganado a través de su historia de trabajo para comunidades de minorías sexuales, la cual sostiene ser capaz de ofrecer en otros contextos socioespaciales. La segunda es la normalización de un donante privado anónimo como un socio “silencioso” necesario, en desarrollo urbano, cuya principal preocupación es la justicia social en la forma de mejoramientos vecinales para comunidades marginales. La tercera es el uso de crisis de inseguridad de barrio y de déficits presupuestales como problemas de planificación cuyas soluciones descansan en la suspensión de los enfoques de planificación normales, para justificar así el uso de una compañía de carácter público–privada. Estas movidas ilustran las maneras como la justicia social ha llegado a neoliberalizarse no solamente reduciendo su alcance, sino también dándole uso como armadura ideológica para enmascarar las marginalizaciones que emergen del propio neoliberalismo urbano.

Key Words:

• homonormativity
• LGBT
• public–private partnership
• social justice
• urban planning

关键词：:

• 同性恋常规
• LGBT
• 公—私伙伴关系
• 社会正义
• 城市规划。

Palabras clave:

• homonormatividad
• LGBT
• compañía público–privada
• justicia social
• planificación urbana

Acknowledgments

This article has benefited from the engaged reviews of the anonymous reviewers, whose astute comments strengthened our arguments. We are grateful to Daniel Mouret for assisting with data collection for this project and to our interviewees for generously taking their time to share their experiences, opinions, and work with us. We thank Nik Heynen for deftly and supportively shepherding the review process. All responsibility for claims in this article is solely ours.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David J. Roberts

DAVID J. ROBERTS is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in Urban Studies, Innis College, at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the geographies of race and racialization, urban infrastructure planning, and the politics of public participation in urban knowledge production and policymaking.

John Paul Catungal

JOHN PAUL CATUNGAL is Instructor (Tenure-Track) in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, Musqueam Territories, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include queer of color geographies, migration and diaspora studies, the politics of community organizing, campus and classroom climates, and critical approaches to the scholarship on teaching and learning.