Inclusive Community Building
When heavy communities fall into the precipice, gentrification will not save the block
Nathan Edelson
Courtesy of City of Vancouver
This article describes an approach that is being undertaken in revitalizing Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – one of the poorest inner city neighbourhoods in Canada. The approach focuses on channelling the forces of land use development in a way that helps build new alliances among groups that often oppose one another. The objective is to improve the lives of the low-income residents rather than to have them displaced by the ‘inevitable’ market forces of gentrification.
Revitalization without displacement: improving the lives of the low-income residents rather than to have them displaced by the ‘inevitable’ market forces of gentrification
An area of decline
The Downtown Eastside is the historic core of the city of Vancouver including its early European, Chinese, Japanese, and Aboriginal settlements. Over the last sixty years, the neighbourhood has declined from being the commercial core to an area of significant economic decline.
Revitalization without Displacement
The Downtown Eastside is adjacent to a vibrant downtown. Given the growth that is taking place nearby, it is clear that this area is in the path of redevelopment. The question is whether this will benefit or displace the existing population through the process of gentrification.
In 2000 the three levels of government entered into a formal legal agreement to address existing conditions related to poverty, crime and addictions and to channel the emerging economic forces so that development benefits as many existing residents as possible.
The Vancouver Agreement’s (VA) mission is ‘Revitalization without Displacement’ and the main commitment is to try to protect the low income population as a community by taking on the challenges of gentrification:
1. Housing: adopting a policy of one-for-one replacement of Single Room Occupancy Accomodation (SRO) with social housing and encouraging affordable rental housing and homeownership.
2. Locally Based Business: funding programs to support small businesses, cooperatives and social enterprises that offer affordable commercial services or jobs for people with challenges to employment.
3. Community Based Policing: supporting “policing” and inclusive programming of the public realm that links low and higher income residents, community-based agencies, local businesses, the police and private security firms.
4. Health Care: providing a wide range of needed health services.
This program does not mean that there will be no change. There will likely be a significant increase in the numbers of new businesses and employees as well as in the composition of the neighbourhood’s residential population. However, there is a commitment to a stronger low income population in a more mixed income commnity.
Conflicts within the Community
There are many groups (former resource industry workers, drug users, the mentally ill, Aboriginals, social service agencies, homeowners, families with children, ethnic merchants,…) that have strong roots in the area’s past, but have had different visions for its future.
There have been significant conflicts among these and other groups about several issues and this conflict has been a considerable barrier to economic development as well as to the provision of needed services.
Community Building
When the planning program started, staff attempted to bring the different stakeholders together, but this proved to be unproductive. As an alternative approach, staff have focused on initiatives that meet the legitimate needs of each constituency. Groups have not been required to work together. However, staff have asked if they could find ways of helping one another.
This has led to some very interesting joint projects. For instance, many groups came together to support the redevelopment of the former Woodwards Department Store to help anchor the area’s economic development. This major development and others such as the nearby site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Village will also provide jobs and business spin offs through formal and informal Community Benefit Agreements negotiated as part of their rezoning and development permissions with the City.
The design and programming of the public realm are especially important to the approach that has been taken in the revitalization of the Downtown Eastside. In one project Chinese and Aboriginal organizations hired young people from each community to interview elders. They discovered that both groups had historically supported one another to survive the impacts of racism.
This research will be embodied in a statue in the heart of Chinatown and be part of Vancouver’s first urban greenway that will link several major tourist attractions. The greenway is intended to embody the concept of ‘Revitalization with Displacement’ in that it will also contain a significant amount of low income housing, health services and social enterprise and be a focal point for inclusive community based arts and celebrations.
