University of British Columbia Press
Sex and the Revitalized City
Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship
9780774818230
9780774818223
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Sex and the Revitalized City
Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship
When a recent wave of condominium development overtook Toronto, women emerged as powerful consumers, and reports claimed that home ownership was offering young, single women freedom, financial independence, and personal security. Sex and the Revitalized City examines the truth of these claims by exploring the phenomenon from the perspective of women condo owners and planners and developers. This fresh perspective on urban revitalization reveals that condo ownership is not freeing women from constraints – neoliberal ideologies are remaking women’s relationship with the city in the image of fast capital and consumer citizenship. Women’s emancipation through condominium ownership is a marketing ploy rather than a major shift in gender relations.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Growing Up: Toronto’s Condominium Boom and the Politics of Urban Revitalization
2 Troubling Tenure: Condominium Ownership, Gender, and the Entrepreneurial Subject
3 Under Construction: The Place of Community in the Neoliberal City
4 Securing Relations of Threat: The Intersection of Gender, Fear, and Capital
5 A Date with the Big City: Gendering the Myth of Urbanity
Conclusion
Appendices
Notes
References
Index