1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In this article we examine how social differences were reproduced in the urban landscape of Montreal and attempt to unravel some of the processes that generated and maintained both segregation and diversity at multiple scales.» (p. 467)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The authors used primary sources. «To observe the spatial expression of social differences in Montreal over time, we rely primarily on two sets of digital data from the census of Canada, 1881 and 1901, integrated in a multilayered historical GIS known as MAP.» (p. 468)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

According to the authors, «[s]ocial reproduction can be thought of as a dynamic equilibrium: high levels of segregation persisted in Montreal between 1881 and 1901 along several distinct social dimensions, despite growth of the system. Individuals moved in and out of households and households in and out of dwellings at astonishing rates. At a census date, a third of what seem to be nuclear families were what we would today describe as “reconstituted,” and a sixth of the households lodged unrelated boarders. In a city built for diversity, a well-oiled legal system facilitated the year- to- year decision making of households and the mutual adaptation of extended families to changes in circumstance. Both segregation and diversity were built into the urban habitat. So long as the material habitat was extended—along the same axes, to roughly the same heights, densities, and lot coverages, with the same building typology and the same potential for neighboring—it reproduced the same patterns of segregation among inhabitants and the same levels of social diversity. Neighboring was expressed at the same scale, and annual turnover ensured reproduction of persistent household preferences along multiple dimensions of personal identity.» (p. 496)
Note : Cette étude aborde les répercussions des relations familiales sur l’urbanisation de la ville de Montréal.