Research Program / Ongoing Projects / Mobility

Appréhensions et opportunités face à la mobilité des jeunes.
Le cas montréalais

funded by the Centre Métropolis du Quebec, in partnership with the Direction de la diversité sociale de la Ville de Montréal.

Following a series of highly publicized articles on street gangs in Montreal and their expansion to Laval, the goal was to better understand the uneasiness towards the construction of the metro in Laval and the possibilities that it brought about for social development. In order to do this, we focused our research on two aspects. First, in response to the idea that the metro would accelerate the arrival of problems perceived as “urban” – such as street gangs – into the suburbs, this project sought to compare youths’ representations of the city and the suburb. The sampled population wascomposed of students in either senior high school (secondary 5) or college (CEGEP) in Montreal and Laval. Then, the practices of mobility of this youth (metro use) were explored to measure the impact of a better access to public transportation on the development of social and intercultural abilities. This research does not seek to directly study the mobility practices of street gangs or criminalization by or through the metro, but rather to understand how the mobility of youths in general could contribute to 1) a decrease in feelings of insecurity rather than an intensification of it as is suggested by the media debate; 2) a favouring of intercultural understanding; and 3) the development of new abilities among youths.

This project is tied to the broader problem developed by the project L’appréhension face à la ville et le comportement politique en banlieue. L’exemple du quartier Laval-des-Rapides dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal, funded by the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), which asks the question: What is about the city that gives rise to political mobilisation? What is the weight of social representations of the city and the suburb in the political behaviour of suburban Montreal youths? What type of political behaviour (voting, Internet practices, lobbying, associations, etc.) do we find? A specific event, the advent of the Laval metro, serves as a laboratory to explore the articulation between representations of the city and of the suburb, the daily reality in these living environments and the political behaviour, by highlighting the role of emotions in the political process, a role often forgotten in favour of arguments put forth in terms of conflict of interests and rational calculations. The opening of the metro station in Laval seems to have aroused some uneasiness for it could facilitate, according to some, the “arrival” of phenomena associated with negative representations of the city – such as street gangs – in the suburb. Can emotions such as apprehension and deception in regards to a daily life that does not (or no longer) appear like the idyllic representations of the suburb arouse certain forms of awareness-raising and political engagement? The metro as a new element in the daily lives of the residents of Laval serves as a starting point to this research, which targets the exploration of the relative influence of rational calculation and of emotions (apprehension, deception) in political action.