This thesis explores the opportunities and constraints to community based planning for neighbourhood conservation in the context of an expanding urban core, using the Mole Hill planning process and draft Concept Plan as a case study. In response to previous public processes, and increasing community activism against top-down revitalization, City of Vancouver Planning Staff were directed in April 1996, to undertake a participatory planning process in order to develop conservation strategies for Mole Hill which balance physical, social, environmental and economic goals. Drawing from a broad range of literature on urban conservation and post-industrial urban change, this thesis begins by providing a rationale for area-based urban conservation within the context of post-war North American and European cities. Further, it outlines some of the conflicts arising from conservation, primarily those conflicts relating to post-war economic restructuring and corresponding socio-economic changes in inner cities specifically, gentrification. The thesis uses cases from inner city communities in Vancouver and New York to examine contemporary trends in neighbourhood conservation, and to explore those elements which contribute to a locally focused and sustainable conservation and revitalization strategy. Three characteristics of successful neighbourhood conservation schemes are abstracted by way of a literature review and are subsequently used as a framework to analyse the Mole Hill case study. These characteristics are: a focus on local involvement; multi-dimensional programs and policies; and an ongoing collaborative approach. The case study reveals the complex and contentious nature of planning for conservation within an expanding urban context. The multiplicity of players, the exigency of issues, the amount and availability of resources, and the often adversarial positions demonstrate the fragmented and complex quality of planning in this context. The study found that in Mole Hill a reliance on top-down methods for conflict negotiation and decision making undermined the effectiveness of the community based model and ultimately led to a fractured set of policies and principles for the neighbourhood. Tensions which were created by a misapplication of power resulted in a polarization between a "Staff' position and a "Working Group" position, thus diluting the idea of a consensus based, collaborative process. Despite these setbacks, a multi-agency and multi-interest approach to the process achieved a number of positive principles and strategies which attempt to address the site as a comprehensive whole, bringing the goals of heritage conservation closer to those of housing and community needs. Finally, the case showed that by drawing on existing community knowledge and expertise the process was able to generate innovative ideas such as those which involve local reinvestment and community economic development initiatives which are directed at social and physical improvement. These ideas challenge traditional notions of conservation and revitalization — which often rely on outside capital investment and /or economic incentives to support conservation — and provide a foundation for more culturally appropriate and sustainable strategies for community based neighbourhood conservation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

For my graduation project, I endeavored to meet the challenge of designing affordable residences for the distinct population of single parent families within a heterogeneous urban environment. Issues of family, house and community were explored in order to ascertain how the needs of this particular group differed from that of the typical nuclear family. Single parents in general have excessive demands made on their time and energy and feel a greater lack of support when attempting to meet these demands. Often times involvement with another adult is either transitory or of a very limited nature. Therefore they must be more self-reliant than usual. The provision of child-care and supervision can be very difficult to accommodate in any family situation and is even more pronounced for the single parent. Other than financial worries, they may also experience a sense of isolation and loneliness. The presence of children does not compensate for the lack of adult companionship and emotional support that most adults need. Also, because a single parent often has to make frequent stops on the way to and from work or school picking up children from child care, shopping for groceries, etc., transportation and amenities ideally should be extremely accessible. Provision of convenient child care services, proximity to work, an affordable and secure environment, accessible social and support services and minimal housekeeping and maintenance responsibilities are but a few of the necessities that the single parent requires in order to attain a reasonable quality of life. Single parent's require more than just shelter. They need a supportive community as well. The site that was ultimately selected to accommodate the needs of this particular group was a half city block situated between 8th and 9th Avenue and Sasamat and Trimble Street in Point Grey, Vancouver. Amenities such as elementary and secondary schools, churches, shopping, transit routes, parks and access to downtown were primary considerations for this site selection. Daycare, teen centre, corner store, guest suites, rentable community space, office space and storage needed to be accommodated on site to address the missing amenities within the community, as well as becoming a means in which to offer something to the community in order to soften the political nature involved with densifying the area. A standard grid of 10m/35m was conformed to within the urban fabric, with the continuation of the lane as a means of relegating parking to the inner core, freeing up the Street from extra traffic. The context of single family homes was recognized with respect to the character of the neighbourhood. Actual density was doubled by 1) utilizing a smaller setback of 4-6m from the sidewalk, 2) duplexing the Street dwellings in a subversive manner 3) occupying the attic space & 4) use of a lanehouse typology whereby the parking was accommodated for while at the same time inhabiting the area with one and two bedroom homes. This facilitated a heterogeneous environment with extended family members, singles, couples or single parents with one child ideally occupying these residences and activating the lane. All residences have separate entrances as well as private outdoor space, with each residence given access to at least one parking space. Inner pedestrian lanes were conceived of in order to heighten the possibility of socialization occurring among the immediate residents, as well as increasing the accessibility to each residence, parking space and garbage/recycling area. Nodes occur between clusters of four dwellings to allow for gathering, playing and pathway undulation. Familiarity of the site within the neighbourhood would help to activate the nostalgic walk through the site in recognition of the existing diagonal path with its spectacular view of Vancouver's skyline. Public amenities were relegated to the west end of the site where a link could occur with the commercially active 10th Avenue and Safeway. Each pedestrian path feeds onto this public space. Because the site has a .75m/10m drop in elevation, this slope was utilized as a means to sculpt the outdoor space in order to define a given area..ie, a node may be carved with a stairwell on either end as a means to define the space. Brick planters were utilized as buffering as well as greening devices. Please see the Architecture reading room in the basement of Laserre, U.B.C. for the written thesis and colour details. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Consideration of the significance of religious institutions in the experience of immigrant settlement is, at best, marginalized in immigration and church history literature. The limited amount of research that has been carried out is limited in time frame and/or by its lack of consideration of the wider social service functions of the church. It is rarely recognized that for new immigrants, churches can function as critical access routes to the host society or as protective cultural communities. Churches provide stability in unfamiliar territory through the creation of a sense of community, a sense of place and an extended family of support. This research seeks to understand how the church has served the German ethnic and immigrant community; how the church has aided cultural preservation as well as immigrant integration; and finally, how some churches have re-defined themselves in the face of member 'assimilation,' generational changes and neighbourhood transition. For some churches, their mission has been extended beyond their original German ethnic community to local neighbourhood residents, predominantly of Asian origin. Unstructured interviews with over twenty-five church leaders from ten German ethnic churches in Vancouver suggest that for many immigrants, the church provided stability and acted as a centre of social networks through which, for example, employment and housing were found. However, the position of the church in maintaining culture is significantly more complex; often dependent upon various factors including church age and the histories of immigrant congregations. This research demonstrates that churches have significant but generally unrecognized impacts on the immigrant settlement experience and that ethnic churches can, but do not necessarily, play supportive roles in maintaining culture. Churches that have recognized the social changes impacting their congregations have found new models of mission to integrate new immigrant communities. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

In research on immigrant enterprise, scholars argue that entrepreneurs mobilize informal support and resources from ethnic affiliations to overcome barriers associated with their immigrant or 'racial' status. The presumed relationship between ethnicity and entrepreneurship is relatively straight forward: immigrant entrepreneurs facing cultural or economic barriers use ethnic resources to propel their economic strategies. This assumption is brought under scrutiny in a study of Chinese Canadian immigrant entrepreneurs in Vancouver, Canada who arrived after 1967, many of whom are skilled professionals, affluent investors, and experienced entrepreneurs. Some have formed corporate ethnic enterprises and many maintain extensive social and commercial ties abroad. What relationship exists between ethnicity and entrepreneurship in this setting? Do these conditions necessitate new approaches or concepts? These questions are explored in the course of the study. Using ethnographic methods, this study examines the changing patterns and composition of Chinese Canadian rmmigrant entrepreneurship and the role of ethnic ties in this process. Consideration is given to the historical precedents and class and cultural politics surrounding the immigration and participation of Chinese Canadian entrepreneurs and workers in the Vancouver economy. The study concludes that existing theory on immigrant enterprise needs move beyond a narrow focus on ethnicity to consider the historical and cultural context of immigrant entrepreneurship. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Ad hoc social movement coalitions are made up of diverse groups that come together to maximise the use of limited resources. Once formed, they face a dilemma. Coalition logic holds that given the limited time frame and instrumental objectives of the organisation, resources should be disproportionately invested in the visible sphere of action. However, this instrumental emphasis ignores the need to invest resources in the 'submerged' sphere of membership intercommunication. As a result tensions which have their root in divergent ideologies, traditions and histories of resistance can threaten the coalition's collective identity. This thesis is about one such organisation, the No! To APEC (NTA) coalition, one of three groups that made up the movement to oppose the APEC Economic Leader's Meeting in Vancouver held in November 1997. NTA, made up of small leftwing grassroots groups, built a campaign around resistance to "imperialist globalisation." It organised community education, an international conference and a march and rally. Although it succeeded in meeting its objectives, a fracture occurred between the largest and most consolidated member group and the other unconsolidated grouping made up of individuals and representatives of small organisations. The fracture caused a disconnection between the local and the international priorities set by the organisation at its outset. In this study I examine the process that led to this outcome. In particular I identify the importance of establishing a capacity for reflexively monitoring the actions and interactions of members. While consensus is not a pre-requisite for solidarity, disputes arising from different perspectives and membership tactics may jeopardise organisational unity. Providing a limited space for evaluating conflicting validity claims and organisational dynamics may help to preserve unity during the active phase of a coalition's mobilisation. The methods used to obtain data for this study were participant observation and interviewing. I spent six months as an activist-researcher with the coalition and I interviewed activists from the three main APEC opposition groups. Although the main focus of this study is on the political and organisational evolution of the NTA coalition, I broaden the discussion to argue that ad hoc coalitions play an important role in generating 'social capital' or 'social movement connectivity.' Social solidarity generated in the course of short-term political action increases the potential for further action mobilisation in social movement networks and communities. In the final part of the thesis I review literature on globalisation and social movements. Combined with what has been learned about coalitions in the previous chapters, this exercise provides a context for examining the APEC opposition movement and, by extension, the prospects for building transnational movements and a counter-hegemonic historical bloc against imperialist globalisation. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

An examination of developments between 1970-1990 demonstrate a substantial restructuring of relations between the state and nonprofit societies within Vancouver's mental health system. While helping to establish and support the growth of nonprofit societies, the state, during the 1970's, maintained a "hands off" relationship with the nonprofit sector. Throughout the 1980's and early 1990's, state intervention into the affairs and aspirations of nonprofit societies dramatically increased, primarily through the establishment of corporatist arrangements. Such arrangements necessitated the establishment of non-aligned intermediary organizations to regulate and monitor activities within the nonprofit sector. The establishment and development of nonprofit societies and the subsequent restructuring of relations between the state and nonprofit societies is explored through an examination of corporatism. This examination includes a detailed case study of two nonprofit societies operating in the city of Vancouver between 1972 to the present, the Coast Foundation Society and The Greater Vancouver Mental Health Services Society. The methodology utilized includes analysis of secondary data, archival and documentary materials, and personal interviews with a number of key informants previously or currently employed within the mental health system. Analytic themes from the literature on pluralism and corporatism, along with Claus Offe's theoretical examination of state-interest group relations, are used to explain the construction of corporatism during this period. While the inquiry provides a detailed account of developments within Vancouver's mental health system through a case study approach, broader issues are also explored. The impact of macro economic changes, especially the effect of the recessionary period during the 1970's, is crucial in understanding changing state priorities and the subsequent construction of corporatism. An understanding, therefore, of the way in which corporatism relates to the broader reconstruction of consensus within late capitalist societies is an important focus of this study.

In the 1980s, very large houses began to replace smaller homes in older single-family zones in Canada's major cities. Protests by residents resulted in more restrictive single - family zoning schedules. In Vancouver, however, houses built as large as zoning permitted had appeared in the late 1960s. This case study traces Vancouver's single- family land use from 1900 to 1990. The intent of Vancouver's original single- family zoning (1930) was to create a suburban landscape. To appeal to European immigrants of the 1950sand Asian immigrants of the 1970s, Vancouver's east-side builders developed a distinctive large house easily converted to include one or more illegal suites. By encouraging this design, zoning amendments in 1974 destroyed the sub-urban pattern intended by the original zoning. In response to affluent Asian immigrants of the 1980s, westside builders constructed larger, more elaborate homes. The city reacted to complaints about the size and design of these houses by amending its schedule in the 1980s to legalize suites, to reduce the bulkiness of new construction and to re-establish the suburban pattern. Local residents do not like the new homes, and many neither need nor can afford them. The research indicates that Asian buyers are outbidding locals for these homes, and locals are dispersing to peripheral areas where homes are more affordable and styles support their cultural traditions. The research suggests that the more compact land use pattern of the 1900s may be more appropriate than land use patterns that have resulted from the city’s original and amended single-family schedule. The research concludes that Vancouver addressed symptoms of the problem but not its cause: a zoning practice that continues to exclude the less affluent from single-family zones. Vancouver needs to espouse a more inclusionary zoning schedule that adopts the compact land use and mixed tenures typical before zoning and preserves the traditions of local residents. Other-wise, the zoning changes may preserve single- family areas for affluent immigrants as the Vancouver market aligns itself with the global market.

A history of growing up in Vancouver with immigrant Portuguese parents was constructed by interviewing seventeen adults who were teenagers in Vancouver between 1962 and 1980. Sixteen emigrated as children or adolescents from a variety of social and economic backgrounds in the Azores and Continental Portugal and one was born in Vancouver. This thesis examines aspects of their adolescence in the family, at school, at work, in friendship and courtship, as well as at church. Their lives in Vancouver often differed considerably one from another, a diversity that was already apparent in Portugal. In Vancouver, many parents attempted to maintain or even intensify control over their children who resisted to varying degrees. Other parents allowed their children much more social freedom. As adults, many of these subjects retain an interest in Portuguese culture and traditions. Some limited comparison is made with other subjects in Kitimat, Penticton, and Toronto.

One of the most pressing problems faced by large urban areas is traffic congestion. Traffic congestion, or the urban transportation problem is not a new phenomenon, having existed since the process of urbanization began. Low density urbanization or suburbanization, facilitated by the availability of large numbers of automobiles has contributed to the present traffic problem. The causes of the problem have long been recognized by planners and decision makers, and viable solutions have been proposed. However, in spite of solutions being known, the problem still exists and has become worse. The purpose of this study is to observe how planners have dealt with the land use and transportation factors which contribute to the ever worsening traffic problems in a suburban area. It is hypothesized that the fragmented nature of the planning and decision making processes have resulted in a lack of co-ordination and co-operation in planning to resolve the urban transportation problem. The objectives of this thesis are to gain an understanding of: 1) why the urban transportation problem exists; 2) the planning process involved in finding solutions to this problem; and 3) the effect of the fragmentation of authority over various factors of land use and transportation. The methodology includes the following steps. The first is a literature review of the current thought on the subject of traffic congestion, and the factors causing it. The second is a literature review of the planning process and the theoretical foundations of current thought on land use and transportation studies. This will be followed by a case study using a descriptive historical approach. The case study reviews developments as well as past land use and transportation studies for the study area. The fourth step involves an interpretation of the information provided in the case study in light of the literature review. The area chosen for the case study is the Greater Vancouver Regional District's North East Sector. This Sector has experienced accelerated development and an increasing 111 population dependant upon the automobile for mobility. Low density land use, has created automobile dependent development, which make an automobile a necessity. A large percentage of the workforce in the area has to commute to other areas. Numerous studies have been commissioned to find solutions to the North East Sector's transportation problems. Despite the realization of the causes of traffic congestion, the solutions presented in the studies have not been comprehensively implemented to achieve workable results. There were two major findings of this study. The first is that planners and decision makers are aware of the relationship between land use and transportation planning. The second is the fragmentation of authority for different aspects of land use and transportation has frustrated attempts to resolve traffic congestion, through a fragmenting of the planning and decision making process.

Safer injection facilities (SIFs) provide a clean and supervised environment, thereby reducing health risks to drug users. Potential benefits include fewer overdoses, decreased rates of HIV, Hepatitis, and other blood-borne viruses, a reduction in open drug use, increased opportunities for health services and treatments, and cost savings to society. A pilot safer injection site is expected to open in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in September 2003. This study assesses community attitudes and concerns with respect to SIFs. Focus groups with police officers, street nurses, and injection drug users in February and March 2003 revealed that they are supportive of the sites. Concerns related to the community impacts, external supports, administration, process, safety, and special populations (e.g. women, youth) were indicated. Special attention should be paid to the involvement of injection drug users in planning and programming, the inclusion of peer workers, the relationships between injection drug users, the wider population, and the police, and safety for marginalized populations. Recommendations to address concerns and ensure inclusive processes are provided.