Environmental historian and author Sean Kheraj traces how this tension between popular expectations of idealized nature and the volatility of complex ecosystems helped shape the landscape of one of the world?s most famous urban parks. Kheraj's book, Inventing Stanley Park, examines how human forces have shaped ? and continue to shape ? this urban environmental space. Kheraj asks us to question our understanding of the 'nature' of Stanley Park, and why it is important be aware of our complex rela...
Oct 16, 2013•58 min
UBC Sociology Professor Renisa Mawani traces the ways in which colonial and imperial power have historically been inscribed in the land now known as Stanley Park.
Oct 09, 2013•57 min
Historian and author Jean Barman reflects on Stanley Park's 125th Anniversary and processes of dispossession which were part of the making of Stanley Park. Her book Stanley Park's Secret won the 2006 City of Vancouver Book Prize. She also situates Stanley Park within the country's broader colonial geographies and the ongoing work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools.
Sep 25, 2013•56 min
Professor Marjorie Griffin Cohen (SFU Political Science and Women's Studies) discusses the challenges facing low-wage workers and unions, and policy options to foster greater economic security. Ben Isitt (Victoria City Councillor, labour historian, and legal scholar) talks about the history of BC's labour movement in order to put current challenges into context.
Sep 04, 2013•59 min
What are local solutions to addressing affordable housing, homelessness, and mental health? What are the gender dimensions to these issues? We explore these issues in a Vancouver context with four speakers who bring considerable experience and insight into providing safe, adequate, affordable, and gender-inclusive housing in the city.
Aug 28, 2013•55 min
Urban scholar John Friedmann (UBC and UCLA) reflects on how we're to make sense of rapid urbanization in Asia. "The first half of the 21st century is anticipated to be a period of continuing large-scale urbanization in the developing world, with much of this occurring in Asian countries, especially China and India. This fundamental, on-going change in Asia presents, on the one hand, prospects for economic prosperity, new visions of an urban future and the potential for local democratization, and...
Aug 14, 2013•57 min
Dr. Leslie Kern, a professor of women's studies, discusses her book 'Sex and the Revitalized City: Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship' and the social and political implications of real estate development reshaping the landscape of cities.
Aug 07, 2013•55 min
Dr. Sylvia Bashevkin (University of Toronto) and author and urban planner Prabha Khosla speak at the Women Transforming Cities National Conference convened on May 30, 2013. Dr. Bashevkin speaks about how women are to transform cities, and Ms. Khosla speaks discusses gender equality and social inclusion in municipal policies and services.
Jul 31, 2013•56 min
A conversation with 'My Brooklyn' documentary filmmaker Allison Lirish Dean on race, class, corporate redevelopment, and the displacement of vibrant and unique urban places.
Jul 17, 2013•1 hr
A Rio de Janiero-based social anthropologist, Dr. Cecilia Mello, discusses the urban social movements taking to the streets in Brazilian cities demanding a better quality of life and a right to the city.
Jul 10, 2013•58 min
In June 2013, City of Vancouver planning staff released the draft community plan for the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood in the heart of East Vancouver. Residents are shocked at the proposed 22-36 storey towers and the upzoning of substantial parts of the neighbourhood known for its existing affordable housing stock and unique feel and character. Where did these directions come from? Are planning staff listening to the community? What does public consultation mean to residents and staff? What a...
Jun 26, 2013•58 min
How can cities be more attentive to the needs of women and girls? How do we design, plan, and foster the ideal city for women and girls? From the 2013 Women Transforming Cities conference in Vancouver, we hear from urban scholar Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl as she discusses interventions for feminist urban futures.
Jun 19, 2013•1 hr
Precarious employment is increasing in the Hamilton and Greater Toronto Area and its harmful effects on individuals, families, and community life are documented in a recently released research report. Today on the program, we?re talking labour economist Wayne Lewchuk and lead author of a research study that explored poverty, employment precarity, and household wellbeing in southern Ontario. The report seeks to broaden the public discussion around poverty, and implicate deteriorating work conditi...
Jun 05, 2013•59 min
He?s been fighting substance use allegations and defending his ability to govern the city of Toronto. We?ll be discussing the Rob Ford saga with rabble.ca contributor Michael Laxer. Does this be the end of Mayor Rob Ford?s bumpy tenure at city hall? And in the second half of the show, we hear about the Women Transforming Cities 2013 Conference from Associate Professor Margot Young (UBC Law), which is designed to facilitate discussion about transforming our cities into places where women are more...
May 29, 2013•59 min
In July 2012, UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Miloon Kothari spoke on the right to adequate housing as part of Simon Fraser University?s Public Square speaker series. In 2000, Mr. Kothari was appointed the first Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living. His mandate ended in 2008. On the podcast, Miloon Kothari discusses Canada's housing problems in global context, policy solutions, and the right to the city for marginalized gr...
May 08, 2013•56 min
In 2011, Simon Fraser University?s Department of History hosted a lecture series, Think you know Vancouver? Think Again. On January 27th, local authors Matt Hern and Charlie Demers addressed the question of whether Vancouver, as it is often branded, is indeed the best place on earth. Their humorous discussion provides a critical take on Vancouver, its history (or perceived lack of history), and why we need to think about Vancouver with a bit more honesty. In a March podcast, we heard from local ...
Apr 24, 2013•58 min
Vancouver City Council, under the direction of the ruling Vision Vancouver party, wants to remove two remnants of the never fully realized inner city highway system in the downtown core. But, in the process, two long-standing community gardens are threatened with demolition. In this documentary, Green for All or Green for Some, Peter Driftmier explores the debate around the removal of the viaducts through the twin lenses of gentrification and environmental sustainability. As of April 2013, city ...
Apr 17, 2013•56 min
UBC geographer Nicholas Lynch is co-author of a recent study, Divisions and Disparities in Lotus Land: Socio-Spatial Income Polarization in Greater Vancouver, 1970-2005. The research presents worrisome trends, with an increasingly divided Vancouver and a disappearing middle class. We discuss the social geography of polarization across the region, the implications, and possible policy solutions.
Apr 03, 2013•57 min
The BC NDP's David Eby (former executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association) is running against BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding on Vancouver's wealthy westside in the upcoming provincial election. He discusses regional planning, housing, poverty, jobs, and the importance of progressive provincial-municipal policies.
Mar 27, 2013•55 min
Transportation planning and policy expert Matti Siemiatycki (University of Toronto) discusses transportation policy and planning within the Vancouver context, lessons from the Canada Line, the politics of transportation planning, and the possible UBC-Broadway rapid transit line and the implications for urban development.
Mar 20, 2013•56 min
In 2011, to mark Vancouver?s 125th anniversary, the Simon Fraser University Department of History hosted a lecture series, Think You Know Vancouver? Think Again. On January 27th, 2011, local authors Matt Hern and Charlie Demers gave short talks to address the question: Vancouver: The Best Place on Earth? and in turn provided a critical take on Vancouver, its history or perceived lack of history, and why we need to think about Vancouver with a bit more honesty. We hear from Charlie Demers in the ...
Mar 13, 2013•55 min
We listen back to some of the highlights from the past year for CiTR's Annual Fundrive. Please support The City, CiTR Radio, and another year of quality, independent programming. Call 604-822-8648 or donate online at www.citr.ca/fundrive . Thank you for your support.
Mar 05, 2013•1 hr
Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr (Green Party) is a vocal critic of the Vision Vancouver-dominated City Council. We discuss her concerns around the creation of city-subsidized market rental housing and attempts to redefine 'affordable' housing, and Vision's plan to centralize funding for community centres (and her run-in with the City Manager and Vision over the issue). Additionally, we discuss the city's development trajectory and transportation.
Feb 27, 2013•56 min
Vancouver's Chinatown is undergoing rapid transformation. The Carnegie Community Action Project's Jean Swanson discusses why a huge influx of condominiums and retail gentrification are threatening to displace the neighbourhood's low-income residents ? and why the city is approving these major developments before the completion of the Downtown Eastside local area plan. Independently-owned Festival Cinemas has been sold to Cineplex. The City talks with co-owner Leonard Schein about why he is calli...
Feb 20, 2013•56 min
Loic Wacquant is professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley and is a researcher with the European Centre of Sociology and Political Science in Paris. His research focuses on comparative urban marginality with a focus on Chicago?s 'hyper-ghetto' and Paris?s racialized urban periphery. Wacquant?s research also looks at broader issues of urban poverty, ethnoracial domination, the penal state, and social theory. He is the author of many books and articles, including Urban Out...
Feb 13, 2013•58 min
Loic Wacquant is professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley and is a researcher with the European Centre of Sociology and Political Science in Paris. His research focuses on comparative urban marginality with a focus on Chicago?s 'hyper-ghetto' and Paris?s racialized urban periphery. Wacquant?s research also looks at broader issues of urban poverty, ethnoracial domination, the penal state, and social theory. He is the author of many books and articles, including Urban Out...
Feb 06, 2013•57 min
We hear several aboriginal perspectives on the Idle No More movement from a recently convened public forum in Vancouver - Idle? Know more! Speakers provide a background to the movement and situate it within the colonial-capitalist past and present.
Jan 30, 2013•58 min
We continue the ongoing series, The Working City, by discussing Canada's temporary foreign worker program with Krystle Alarcon, the author of a recent four-part series which documents the many problems with the program and the possibility for reform.
Jan 23, 2013•56 min
We hear from several commentators on the possible loss of an East Vancouver music hub, and the City of Vancouver?s response, as well as the impending eviction of the W2 Community Media Arts Society. We discuss more broadly the growing cultural deficit in the city ? and specifically the lack of all ages venues and how this should be remedied.
Jan 16, 2013•58 min
We continue our ongoing exploration of urban economies and the future of economic development by examining the worker-owned co-operative as a model for transforming our urban economies to achieve social, environmental, and economic justice. The City heads to Portland, Maine to hear about Local Sprouts, a worker-owned cafe cooperative and community kitchen, which works to put its workers and the community first by embracing the principles of socio-economic and environmental justice. We hear from ...
Dec 19, 2012•59 min
