The International Examiner has a three-part series on the gentrification of Chinatowns in cities in the Northwest, and Chetanya Robinson has interviewed our very own Duke of  Data Andy Yan.

It is well worth a read, as is the International Examiner’s review of “People Power” and the landmark decision of the Vancouver Development Permit Board regarding 105 Keefer, a condominium development proposed within Chinatown.

“Over the last few years, much of Vancouver, B.C.’s Chinatown has mobilized against gentrification, insisting that development and revitalization projects do more to meet the needs of the neighborhood. In November 2017, a swell of neighborhood voices made history by convincing the Vancouver City Development Permit Board to reject the application for a proposed condo project, called 105 Keefer. It was the first time in its history that the Board rejected a project, agreeing with activists that the condo didn’t fit contextually into Chinatown. For many, the 105 Keefer project — which would have been built just feet away from a memorial to Chinese railway workers and veterans, and included no affordable housing — symbolized the ways that housing was being developed in Chinatown with little regard for its needs.”

Andy Yan who is the  director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University notes that 40 % of seniors in Chinatown live in poverty, and that the activism against inappropriate development is a ‘microcosm” of what is happening throughout the city.