A Brief History of Gentrification in Vancouver

Gentrification is one of the hot topics in contemporary Vancouver, but is it a new phenomenon? Author/artist Michael Kluckner presented an illustrated historical overview, ranging from the 'degentrification' decades before the 1960s to the urban-renewal era and the beginnings, in Strathcona and Kitsilano in the 1970s, of the modern trend toward fixing up deteriorated old buildings in the city's vintage neighbourhoods.

The presentation looked at the eviction of the Coal Harbour houseboat community in the 1950s, the boutiquing of Gastown in the 1960s and the first attempt to "clean up" Pigeon Park, the Kitsilano housing battles of the early 1970s and the genesis of local area planning, the Expo evictions, the gentrification of Kerrisdale in the 1980s and the saga of Woodward's and the Downtown Eastside in the past 20 years. The changing retail landscape on streets such as Robson provides a segue into the contemporary scene, where The Drive and Main Street have become restaurant and boutique backdrops for the painted-up heritage homes of Grandview and Hillcrest.

Kluckner discussed probable causes, including the failure of Modernist-style urban renewal, the Strata Title Act, the abandonment of housing programs by the federal government, the role of artists as a harbinger of change (à la David Ley), and the current period of easy credit and low-interest rates.