Environmental philosophy has expanded and diversified greatly since its beginning. Yet applied philosophies, environmental philosophy and environmental ethics have not engaged descriptive ethics in the way that biomedical ethics has. I will suggest that the failure to has meant that environmental philosophy has had limited impact on environmental practices such as restoration ecology. In this thesis I will attempt to reposition philosophy's ethical spotlight upon what I feel to be the most ethically relevant features of the practice of restoration ecology, and to facilitate this, I develop a case-study. A history of the Musqueam Watershed restoration project and its participants' objectives and their operating policies will be given, followed by an ethical analysis of the project. I will argue on several counts that getting restoration right involves more than paying careful attention to the finished product, as philosophers Elliot and Katz have suggested. Getting restoration right involves placing practice within a broad social and political context where process becomes as crucial as outcome. This will require an examination of the way in which interested stakeholders nature, as well as an examination of the democratic structure and mandate of the Musqueam Watershed Committee. I will argue that restoration projects ought to be conducted in a manner that exploits the inherent participatory potential of restoration ecology. Finally, I will argue the inclusion of ecosystems within the human socio-political context, and thus suggest replacement of the Wilderness Paradigm, or the Hyperreal Paradigm with a Garden Paradigm for human relations with nature, in the hope that in this way we will restore ourselves to nature. / Arts, Faculty of / Philosophy, Department of / Graduate

The City of Vancouver has led North American cities in commemorating Modern heritage. In 1990, City of Vancouver planners initiated the Recent Landmarks study, thus launching a progressive, specialized program aimed at documenting and conserving the city's post-war architecture. While this program has raised awareness and catalogued a large stock of Modern resources, few of the identified buildings have been protected with legal heritage designation. Thus it seemed appropriate to explore Vancouver's Recent Landmarks program in this thesis and assemble comparative information (from other jurisdictions) against which to measure it. Thus the primary purpose of this thesis is to point to contemporary heritage conservation initiatives and programs in North America that are specifically concerned with twentieth-century buildings, in order to inform heritage planning in Vancouver. The secondary purpose is to amplify current efforts to broaden and redefine the notion of structural heritage to include twentieth-century work. This thesis surveyed representatives (i.e. civic planning or cultural/landmark Department staff, and representatives of local chapters of DOCOMOMO, the international organization formed to document and conserve the works of the Modern movement) in Toronto, Victoria, New York, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The results of the thesis show that by 1999, all but one of the five surveyed North American municipalities had addressed the issue of Modern heritage. However none of the consulted cities had developed distinct programs to address this resource. For example, while several cities reported listing Modern buildings on their heritage inventories, none of the municipalities canvassed reported the development of studies or inventories that were focused on post-war landmarks. Thus from this information, it appears that the Recent Landmarks initiative in Vancouver remains quite exceptional. This program has identified several (and spurred the designation of some) significant Modern buildings, stimulated the creation of reports and studies, and made strong attempts to engage the public. In sum, the results gleaned from this thesis survey show that the Recent Landmarks initiative remains a leader in the specialized realm of heritage conservation for Modern architecture, and that many North American cities have yet to match Vancouver's efforts. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis examines the possibility of retaining, redesigning, and integrating existing farm and forestlands within the proposed South Campus community development at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The central tenant of my thesis is, given the importance of agriculture in the development of human culture and the UBC Point Grey Campus, and the vital role it will play in the 21st Century, agricultural lands and facilities should be conserved and given a place of importance within the UBC landscape. An explanation is provided on how such an integrative proposal for these lands, collectively known as the UBC South Campus Farm, would support the economic, ecological, and social interests and expectations of the University, and the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), while providing an exciting learning and living environment for students, faculty staff and community members. An alternative proposal for the South Campus Farm and the South Campus community is provided that supports the stated interests of the University and the GVRD. This is accomplished through a careful assessment of the cultural and biophysical features of the South Campus lands and the subsequent development and application of a regenerative design process applied within a fourfold framework based on the concepts of ecology, economy, integrity and beauty. The final design proposal is compared and evaluated against the current situation and the University development plans. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The objective of this paper is to illustrate how the city came to have such a love affair with the Woodward's Department Store, and how this love affair has led to the building occupying a position of importance in the city of Vancouver. This thesis critically endeavours to argue that Woodward's has become important through the role of social memory, which is able to make and remake the idea of Woodward's, and through the social life of Woodward's objects. Here I use the term social memory to refer to the collective memory that people share about Woodward's, and also to the 'social' way through which this memory is formed. Not only is people's memory of the Woodward's Department Store social, as they remember the 'social'ness of what it meant to either work or shop there, but the objects associated with the building also have a social life, where their function, ownership and meaning have changed over time. Throughout this argument, I attempt to extract the meaning of the memories and memorabilia submitted to the Woodward's Memories Project, in order to outline the reasons why the building holds importance in the city. The story of how Woodward's came to hold such a place of importance in the city can be revealed from the 'social' aspect of both social memory and the social life of objects. Through Woodward's various functions and roles the meanings become entangled, representing the Woodward's building as an object, a memory and an agent of nostalgia. Because Woodward's was an integral part of Vancouver for generations, the store became rooted in the memory of the people and the city as a whole. This is evidenced not only by their memory of the department store but also by the current revitalization efforts of the Downtown Eastside, to which the redevelopment of Woodward's is key. By outlining the social capital of the Woodward's location as a heritage site, as well as of the Woodward's objects and the memories associated with them, one can finally begin to understand the true importance of the Woodward's Department Store to the City of Vancouver. This holds great importance for Vancouver, especially in this time of revitalization and redevelopment. Not only is the past brought to the forefront of a new project, but by tracing the social life of the building the new meanings and functions that the space served is revealed. This research represents a new part of the city's history which is important to document and share with the public. Aiding in understanding the Woodward's building, both in the past and present, the significance of this project extends beyond the scope of this thesis. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Vancouver's West End, located between Stanley Park and the commercial/administrative enterprises of the central business district, quickly emerged as the city's prime residential neighborhood during the late 1880's. Until approximately 1912 Vancouver's leading citizens resided in the West End, shaping its growth and that of much of the city. Coming predominantly from Eastern Canada and Great Britain and arriving in Vancouver before or just after the turn of the century, Vancouver's West End elite created a residential landscape that reflected the architecture, institutions and urban images of the late Victorian Age. The transplant of a sophisticated and established urban culture to a pristine urban environment allowed Vancouver's upper class quickly to create a comfortable residential environment in a new, West Coast urban setting. In short, the West End was an identifiable neighborhood that reflected the processes of social and spatial sorting common throughout the late nineteenth century industrial urban world, and it provided a secure social and geographical base where the ambitious upper class could build and manoeuver to structure their future in British Columbia. While the West End portrayed status and functioned as an environment in which upper class social interaction and cohesion could be initiated and sustained, it was only part of the larger civic arena within which the elite population operated. This larger setting included the elaborate institutional network of corporations, exclusive clubs and recreational associations within which members of the elite consolidated their socio-economic ascendancy. An understanding of the institutional basis of elite power in Vancouver is essential to gaining an understanding of the elite's impact on the social and geographical environment of the city. Chapter three concentrates on the development of the elite's network of voluntary associations while chapter four examines the corporate connections and activities of the elite. In conclusion, the study examines the beliefs and commitments that helped to endorse the vast socio-economic power of the business dominated elite in early Vancouver. It is suggested that most immigrants to pre-1914 Vancouver saw the city as the land of private opportunity, a place where prosperity could be attained by everyone who adhered to the rules of hard work, thrift and common sense. A widely shared commitment to material progress and urban expansion helped to inspire a deferential attitude towards those businessmen who were leaders of expansion in the city's private sector and, more specifically, it sanctioned the rapid demise of the West End as an upper class single-family neighborhood. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Environmental factors affecting a topographic sequence of soils were examined on the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands. The soils and other landscape components were studied at four sites along a transect to provide information on those processes which are active in affecting site and soil development. Characterization of the water chemistry of precipitation, organic leachate, soil solution and groundwater; the magnitude of soil spatial variability and the influence of land use on the landscape were also evaluated. The landscape components considered to exert the greatest influence on soil and site development include topography, moisture regime, vegetation and parent material. The interrelationship between these components has resulted in the development of four podzol soils which differ in horizon differentiation and in the extent to which mobile constituents are redistributed in the pedon. Man, considered as an environmental factor, has indirectly influenced site and soil development through land use. The effects attributed to logging are reflected in the modification of the moisture regime along the lower portion of the transect. This appears to be the controlling factor in altering vegetation successional patterns and in affecting soil development. In these soils, soil development appears to be intensified, wiht the resultant increase in weathering and leaching processes in the surface mineral horizons and the initiation of the redistribution of mobile constituents within the pedon. Characterization of selected chemical components of precipitation (including crown wash), organic layer leachate, soil solution and groundwater was conducted to elucidate ion mobility and nutrient availability. The data presented suggest that: the weathering of soil minerals is the main source of ions to the soil-water system; the mineral weathering rates in the soils are fairly constant; the chemical concentrations in the groundwater are controlled to a great extent by the weathering of soil minerals; the input of ions from the atmosphere and organic leachates can be appreciable and may influence the exchange status in the surface mineral horizons; and the leaching of organic materials may be important in maintaining plant nutrient requirements in soils of inherent low fertility. Displacement techniques appear to be useful in providing data for the evaluation of water quality relationships between the atmosphere and the soil system and for assessing site-fertility. Spatial variability in the two soils was studied to elucidate soil chemical heterogeneity. Assessment of three sampling techniques in relation to sampling efficiency and intensity was made in light of the soil heterogeneity expressed by the soils. Spatial variability recorded for these soils, suggests that soil heterogeneity should be considered as an important soil characteristic as are the soils' inherent chemical and physical properties. The greatest extent of variation in soil chemical properties was found in the surface mineral layers where weathering and influences from environmental factor interactions are more pronounced. It is this portion of the soil that will regulate the sampling intensity required for soil field studies. The data presented suggest that the use of composite sampling schemes will allow for reasonable estimates of soil properties and reduce the probable disparites caused by non-representative samples. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The Granville Bridge, Vancouver, Canada is an unsafe, uncomfortable and uninteresting crossing for pedestrians. Neither does it possess an identifiable or memorable image. Although the City of Vancouver has identified poor crossing conditions for pedestrians as an issue that requires addressing, the current design for the City's preferred solution - a suspended crossing attached to the side of the Granville Bridge - the current design for this structure does not address how to make the bridge an imageable element in the city landscape. Using the Black Rock Arts Festival - commonly know as Burning Man - as a case study, the potential for an interactive landscape design to create an identity for the Granville Bridge is examined. Although Burning Man fails to create a community that integrates with its contextual landscape, its use of interactive art is successful in creating community among participants. Through the contextual use of interactive art in conjunction with the proposed suspended pedestrian crossing, a design is proposed that celebrates the Granville Bridge as a conduit of motion by revealing the presence of pedestrians. The proposed design includes design components under the north and south ends of the bridge to conceptually ground the image on the north and south side of False Creek, and unifies the total design with the metaphorical and literal use of dance. The design shows that interactive art can be used to make the Granville Bridge an imageable element in the landscape, thereby making it an integral part of the Vancouver landscape. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School 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.

False Creek is a distinctive neighbourhood in the centre of Vancouver where you would expect to see high density, perhaps high rise development; instead you can see a low and medium rise and low density development with large public open space. It contrasts to the nearby Fairview Slopes and the West End. This thesis tries to investigate and explain what made this land development so different from others. In the 1960s, liberal ideology emerged in Canada. Its influence was felt here in Vancouver. It was embraced by the upcoming new "class" of professional, technical and administrative workers. This new liberal ideology gave new meanings to the ideas of "growth" and "progress". It promoted social equity and livability in urban development; its priority was placed on people not property.Vancouver was transforming from an industrial city to a service oriented post-industrial city. A political party founded at this time, The Elector's Action Movement (TEAM), was liberal-oriented and won the municipal election in 1972. Its election co-incided with the False Creek south development. TEAM innovatively administered the development. It broke away from the former administration, the NPA, and innovatively implemented measures to secure a livable and socially mixed community. The implementation of False Creek south in the first two phases was achieved with the commitment of the TEAM City Council and with the blessings from the federal and provincial government. The result is an innovatively designed and socially mixed neighbourhood in downtown Vancouver. What we can see today in False Creek south shore phase I and II is a legacy of what this party achieved in urban development. With the deterioration of economic situation and the return of a conservative movement in the late 70s and early 80s, TEAM faded away from the municipal politics. Conservative NPA was back to the municipal administration. Urban development was left to the private sector to manipulate.The later two phases became profit driven development with very little concern of social issues. To provide a socially mixed community was not an objective in the later phases in False Creek south. The result is high density, high rise development of the later two phases. This thesis investigates the False Creek south shore development in and after TEAM administration; compares the policies of the two administrations, and the perception of the role of the administration during and after TEAM control; examines the demographic and physical design differences in the same development between different phases. This helps to reveal the inter-relationship between urban development and civic politics and provides a valuable insight into the effects of policy and ideology on the nature of urban development.

This is a case study of a project focused on organizing community economic development (CED) in the inner-city neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant, in Vancouver. Participant-observation research techniques, combining the roles of organizer and researcher, were used in this exploratory study. The ethnic and cultural diversity of this inner-city neighbourhood, with its various "communities of interest, “presents challenges to CED organization. This study examines these challenges in relation to the process of organizing CED and identifies the relevant factors for determining a community's readiness for CED. Key aspects of the organizing process are explored in depth (e.g., gaining legitimacy within the community, assessing the community’s readiness for CED, determining a development approach, cultivating leadership and developing an organizational base). This study proposes a framework for organizing CED which identifies the major stages, activities and critical factors in organizing CED. The research identifies and discusses the major roles of the organizer and the beliefs and values which guided the organizing process.