Productive gentrification in the Mile-Ex neighbourhood of Montreal, Canada: exploring the role of the state in remaking urban industrial clusters

Abstract

The Mile-Ex district of Montreal, Canada – an inner-city manufacturing cluster – is experiencing an influx of new knowledge-based firms, which in addition to residential developments threatens to displace current manufacturing firms. This study examines the competition over industrial space and how state strategies, particularly at the scale of the City, are enabling this trend. Drawing on interviews with local stakeholders and planners, a review of policy documents and field observations, we seek to expand on a nascent literature exploring the gentrification of manufacturing spaces and shed light on the different mechanisms by which the state mediates neighbourhood change.