Gentrification of Vancouver

rdf:langString Gentrification of Vancouver

rdf:langString The gentrification of Vancouver, Canada, has been the subject of debate between those who wish to promote gentrification and those who do not. Gentrification in Vancouver has taken place in the context of a strong environmental movement, high land prices, real estate development, and the development of former industrial sites owned by the City of Vancouver or whose redevelopment was influenced by city zoning regulation. Historically, Vancouver's geographic location has made it the transportation hub connecting Western Canada to Asia. This enriched the area with raw materials and led to a booming manufacturing industry centered on the Canadian Pacific Railway networks. Numerous warehouses, timber mills, rail yard facilities and wartime industries were constructed in easy-to-access areas like Coal Harbour and False Creek. Working-class neighbourhoods were established in surrounding areas like Kitsilano, Strathcona and Grandview–Woodland. However, in the 1950s the area entered a period of decline, caused largely by the growing prominence of freight trucking and new industrial complexes such as Annacis Island being built on relatively cheap suburban land close to the freeways. This created rent-gap theory conditions and eventual gentrification in several inner-city Vancouver neighbourhoods.