25 th ENHR International Conference, Overcoming the Crisis: Integrating the Urban Environment (Tarragona, June 19‐22, 2013) WS18: Residential environments’ decay and revitalization: by whom and for whom? Bélanger et al. (2013) ͳ Revitalization, megaprojects and displacement in central Montreal: facing the transformation of the residential environment 1 Hélène BÉLANGER Winnie FROHN Amélie PANNETON Département d’études urbaines et touristiques École des sciences de la gestion Université du Québec à Montréal FIRST DRAFT : DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT AUTHORS’ AUTHORIZATION PROBLEM STATEMENT Many cities around the world are grappling with decline of their central neighborhoods and segregation of their population and activities. This reality has led stakeholders to put in place different types of measures to mitigate or reverse the decline. Recuperation and rehabilitation of heritage sites and buildings, the creation of new specialized districts as well as the integration of “starchitect” buildings in order to create a new image of the city are among such measures. Stakeholders get their inspiration from foreign success, hoping the recipe that has worked elsewhere will work in their own city. Who didn’t envy Barcelona and its historic center or dream of the Bilbao effect thanks to the Guggenheim museum? For many public administrations, these major transformations of the built environment can only have positive impacts on everyone, including poorer households. However, these transformations may also disrupt the equilibrium of an area, sometimes causing speculative bubbles affecting not only economic uses of the space but also the housing market. Pressure of the housing market may fuel tenants’ and owners’ turnover through processes of 1 We want to thank the Conseil de recherche en sciences humaines du Canada and the Alliance de recherche universités‐communautés (ARUC) for their financial support.