Shaping Vancouver 2016:
Our neighbourhoods
About this series
Following an extremely successful Shaping Vancouver 2015 series on the City of Vancouver Heritage Action Plan, its initiative to update how the City’s heritage conservation is managed, Heritage Vancouver is thrilled to present our award winning series for 2016.
The series will put together heritage and community experts together to engage in conversation with the public around the heritage of our neighbourhoods, not only in terms of conservation but also in terms of the legacy we are creating for the future of Vancouver and what the actions we are taking today might mean for heritage in the future. The series will begin with an overview of how we may define a neighborhood and what is needed to create community. The series will then take the discussion to specific neighbourhoods in our city.
With close to 1000 residential buildings being torn down in Vancouver in 2015, many residents fear the erasure of neighbourhood character as demolitions become rampant. There is a general sense that new construction, an increase in empty houses and neighbourhood plans lack consideration for the existing neighbourhood context.
These conversations are intended to explore how we can accommodate change and preserve what is important to neighbourhoods and community.
Co-presented by SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement
Questions? info@heritagevancouver.org
Social media #shapingvancouver
Join Heritage Vancouver Society! Your membership will help us in our work to support heritage conservation in our city.
Sessions are free, but do require pre-registration
Conversation No. 1 –
What’s a neighbourhood?
Wednesday, April 13, 2016; 7pm–9pm
SFU Woodwards Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
149 West Hastings Street
Many things make up a desirable neighbourhood.
How well it accommodates day-to-day life, the existence of visually and spacially interesting architectural and physical features, how social, community activities and human interaction are encouraged, pedestrian oriented retail and commercial areas, distinguishable area character, green spaces, and accommodation for multiple modes of transportation.
A panel will explore what features could be considered necessary to have living and vibrant neighbourhoods and communities as well as discuss what we should keep in mind as we manage change to Vancouver’s neighbourhoods.
In addition Don Luxton, lead consultant on the Heritage Action Plan, will present an update on one of the most anticipated pieces of the Heritage Action Plan, the Character Home Component, which will be going before Vancouver City Council in the Spring.
A general discussion with the audience will follow the presentation and conversation.
Panelists
Michael Kluckner :Author, artist, City of Vancouver Heritage Commission Member, President of Vancouver Historical Society
Neal LaMontagne: Vice-chair Vancouver City Planning Commission and Vancouver Urban Design Panel
Donald Luxton:Principal of Donald Luxton & Associates Inc. and principal consultant for the City of Vancouver Heritage Action Plan
Amy Robinson: Founder and co-executive director of LOCO BC
Tara McDonald: Executive Director of Vancouver Farmers Market
Moderator
Marianne Amodio: Principal at Marianne Amodio Architecture Studio and recipient of the 2015 Arthur Erickson Memorial Award for Emerging Architect
PIBC 2.0 Organized/Structured CPL units
AIBC 2.0 Non-Core LUs
Conversation No. 2 –
What’s so special about “The Drive”?
Wednesday, May 18, 2016; 7pm–9pm
SFU Woodwards Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
149 West Hastings Street
Commercial Drive is perhaps the most vibrant, textured, and diverse street in Vancouver—outstanding for its unique sense of place and experience.
As the city continues to grow eastward, the pressure to develop this area is mounting and becoming a reality. The changes on the table will introduce new typologies, such as towers, that will radically change the fabric of the street.
Heritage Vancouver Society will explore how to address the need for additional density and transit within a framework that respects the character of the Drive and its remaining heritage assets.
As a way to engage “The Drive”, this discussion will:
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Review the history of the street
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Explore what we can consider its heritage assets
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Ponder the intangible heritage of the area that should be considered when development is being proposed
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Challenge the notion of prescriptive zoning as a means to preserve an heritage area
Alongside the question of preservation comes the question of character. Should we be satisfied with saving a few important Heritage assets while the character of an area is abandoned to the forces of development?
The panel will discuss how much of the character of an area we can or should surrender to development, what character can be considered important and worth preserving, and whether that character is tied to traditional heritage forms.
Change is coming to “The Drive” and tonight’s panelists will be addressing how and what can be done to avoid destroying what is important about the street. A general discussion with the audience follows.
Panelists
TBD
AIBC, PIBC, RAIC Learning Units Pending
Conversation No. 3 –
What do I want from my street? Change is coming to Cambie, Main, Fraser
Wednesday, June 15, 2016; 7pm–9pm
SFU Woodwards Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
149 West Hastings Street
In this panel, speakers discuss the impact of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) along some of our prominent North South arterial streets – Cambie, Main, Fraser, and the communities along them.
Increasingly, we see the character and street level retail disrupted by the creation of high-density mixed-use areas close to public transport.
Although this kind of development increases the housing supply, questions around diversity, density distribution, community assets, and neighbourhood quality remain. It is a model that appears to preserve low-density single-family neighbourhoods by introducing Metrotown like developments.
Is this the best way for Vancouver to address the development imperatives it is facing and if the preservation of low-density single family areas justify the creation of high density nodes?
The panel will explore what factors make a street work, including how accessible it is for various modes of transportation, how it allows for a variety of activities, how pedestrian oriented it is, whether it provides comfortable gathering spaces, and how it contributes to a distinct image of its neighbourhoods as a means to assess the impact of the TOD development being proposed for Vancouver.
A general discussion with the audience follows at the end.
Panelists
TBD
AIBC, PIBC, RAIC Learning Units Pending
Conversation No. 4 –
What is the vision for Chinatown?
Wednesday, September 28, 2016; 7pm–9pm
SFU Woodwards Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre
149 West Hastings Street
*Registration will be posted soon
Chinatown has been one of the enduring neighbourhoods that define Vancouver.
Throughout its history it has provided spaces to live, work, shop and gather. Due to its history it has developed a distinguishable character, rich history as well as culturally and architecturally unique buildings.
All of this has been recognized through the creation of a part of Chinatown as a National Historic Site.
But as development intensifies, there is alarming concern in the community over the impacts of that development. The introduction of new typologies to accomodate density and how that has disrupted the existing fabric of the area have fueled fears over the loss of Chinatown character.
These fears have been expressed in film, demonstrations, public talks, letters, and numerous news articles.
This discussion looks at this increasing demand for community heritage values to be recognized and protected in the midst of this development. It explores the nature of those community values and how they may be defined. In essence it wishes to ask what exactly is the vision for today’s Chinatown and how it may be achieved.
Panelists discuss these points and a general discussion follows.
Panelists
TBD
AIBC, PIBC, RAIC Learning Units Pending
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