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Private inner city redevelopment in Vancouver : a case study of Kitsilano

University of British Columbia

In Vancouver and an increasing number of other North American cities, private redevelopment is responsible for a substantial share of structural change in residential stock located in the Central City. For the most part this change has involved the replacement of older detached houses by apartments. During the 1960's, the great majority of the apartment units thus produced were marketed as rental accommodation; more recently completed market projects in Vancouver have featured condominium tenure almost exclusively. Besides generating structural change, the process of private redevelopment also has considerable social impact, the nature of which sometimes generates political conflict. Much of the impetus for private redevelopment has come from the increase in downtown employment opportunities for middle and upper income white collar workers, coupled with a reduction in the relative preference of many of those workers for the lifestyle offered by a suburban single family house compared with that afforded by a centrally located condominium apartment. This thesis examines the process of private redevelopment as it evolved, in Vancouver's inner city during the 1970's. To provide a context for the discussion, factors responsible for the creation of strong metropolitan demand pressures for multiple unit accommodation are established, as are the events which led to a decline in the return available from the construction of rental apartments and a coincident increase in the number of more profitable condominium projects. The spread of these projects throughout the apartment zoned areas of several inner city neighbourhoods is shown to be responsible for the demolition of a substantial number of the moderate cost rental units contained in those neighbourhoods, at a time when such units were in short supply. Consequently, people displaced by condominium redevelopment faced serious relocation problems. One of Vancouver's more heavily redeveloped inner city neighbourhoods - Kitsilano - is chosen as the location for a case study which considers the problems of displacement caused by redevelopment, and the local political response to those problems by residents and City Council. Major data sources include published and unpublished government and archival material, the Canadian Census, a survey of residents displaced by redevelopment, newspaper clippings, and the author's own observations from working with a Kitsilano neighbourhood group. The study shows that a reordering of the distribution of income and lifestyle groups in Vancouver is well underway. Private redevelopment has provided the opportunity for a significant number of higher income individuals to take up residence in areas which were formerly almost totally occupied by lower middle class, often family, households. The residents displaced most recently have faced considerable difficulties in their search for accommodation, as the supply of affordable units in their neighbourhoods has been sharply reduced by demolition followed by redevelopment. In Kitsilano, the political attempts by residents to maintain a supply of moderate cost rental housing suitable for families were spirited but met with limited success. The events in Kitsilano suggest that landscape evolution in Vancouver continues to be determined by City Council, the property industry, and the preferences of consumer groups with significant market power; meaningful citizen participation in urban decision making has not yet been achieved.

Text

2010-03-09

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21679

Geography

University of British Columbia

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