Peripheral Vancouver

Just ask Stan Douglas: the built environment has figured prominently in the narrative of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; it is impossible to imagine the circumstances of the residents of Hastings Street without also thinking of the abandoned buildings and storefronts they occupy.

And yet, in spite of the intimate relationship that people have with buildings, architecture’s agency and capacity for advocacy is limited here. It is limited in spite of an enduring espoused interest. It is limited in spite of the solutions it might suggest. It feels like something is in the way.

With this in mind, and using the economic-policy-social lens suggested by Tangential Vancouverism, this space will examine some of the forces that shape architecture’s ability (or inability) to engage with a segment of society thought to be in need but typically beyond architecture’s reach.