Abstract
The boulevard Saint-Laurent is the embodiment in Montreal of the gap between the French-speaking eastern part and the English-speaking areas in the west part, but it is also the place where immigrants settled during the twentieth century, thus creating specific neighborhoods (Little Italy, Chinatown, and Portuguese and Jewish sectors). These neighborhoods, that once symbolized poverty and marginalized communities, have been undergoing processes of both social and urban change as well as gentrification. They are now repositioned, through the urban planning, marketing strategies, and cultural events (celebrations, festivals, urban tours) produced by public and private stakeholders, as places to visit. Cosmopolitanism is being integrated as a marketing strategy to promote places and to redefine districts as destinations of leisure and tourism (Shaw S, Bagwell S, Karmowska J, Urban Studies 41(10), 1983–2000, 2004). The boulevard is a lever for branding strategies: “ethnic” neighborhoods clearly highlight the assets of cosmopolitanism through food, shops, associations or symbols such as colors, flags or ornaments. This chapter focuses on these actions of branding and the use of the cosmopolitan past of the street and their impact on the representations of pedestrians, inhabitants and users.