Planning Pool

Melaka and George Town were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Thanks to Gary Arndt on Flickr for the Creative Commons photo.

The Malaysian cities of Melaka and George Town have developed over the last 500 years through trading and cultural exchanges between the East and West in the Straits of Malacca. Asian and European influences have given these cities a very specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. Melaka’s government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications represent history from the early Malay sultanate (15th century) and the Portuguese and Dutch periods (16th century). George Town’s residential and commercial buildings represent its British era (18th century). These two cities along the Straits constitute a physical and cultural landscape unparalleled anywhere else in East and … Continue Reading

Just arrived back from a trip to Asia where, among other things, I took part in a short exchange with the National University of Singapore.

This was all part of a History course that took a comparative approach to exploring planning issues in the ethnic spaces (mostly chinatowns) of Vancouver, Singapore and to a lesser extent Malacca, in Malaysia. The students were divided into several working groups, covering areas such as mapping, architectural modeling, real estate marketing, and video (which I helped to facilitate). Each was responsible for creating a final project presentable to university and government officials, professors and local planners.

So as our little group nosed around these two fascinating cities, talking to planners, historians and local residents as we went, we managed to produce this film. Its purpose is to function as a snapshot of life as it’s being lived … Continue Reading

Ethnic enclaves are always a difficult issue to wrangle, whether you’re a planner or anyone else in the community.  In Vancouver’s Chinatown, an aging population combined with the emergence of Richmond as the chosen destination for many Chinese British Columbians has raised difficult questions about the neighborhood’s future.  Achieving a balance between the historical importance of Chinatown and the desire not to tokenize that history remains a question without a clear answer.  Still, Vancouver has one of the most notably functional Chinatowns in North America.  This is to say that it remains a living place, rather than a cultural relic or a temple to a bygone history.

But what about historical ethnic communities that have largely since dispersed?

In San Diego, where I spent the better part of my childhood, plans are underway to beef up … Continue Reading