6 replies to this topic

[G-Man]

I just started this little book I found at the library. It is a little out of date having been published in 1996 but so far it has some great stuff in it. It is basically a study of Victoria's urban issues. It was written by Alan Artibise, David Chuenyan Lai, Terry Sherwood and Dan Koenig. Anyways here is a few comments:

From a study group:

"...a new devlopment may diminish one dimension of community liveability while greatly enhancing one or several more other important dimensions of community liveability. In such an instance it might be decided that the growth should proceed because of its overall value for community liveability."

On city leadership:

"...[Cities] need responsible and creative leadership and the prerequisite is a realization the the values of that leadership be such that they are shared by all citizens."

essential qualities of a leader are

"they are masters of persuasion, not merely power;
they are equipped with vision, not merely vote-getting ability;
they rely on advisers, not merely admirers; and
they beleive in and strive for the general good, not just for a good public participation process."

I will put down more as I find it.

[aastra]

Do they define "community liveability"?

[G-Man]

Well no but the part of the book this is from is they told 4 working groups that City of Vic is targeting a specific neighbourhood for 2000 more people and the local people are upset and have formed a neighbourhood association.

They then get into a discussion of your question which is legthy and begin talking about the development of a Community Liveability Index. That is where I am now in the book. I am sure UBC or UVic libraries would have this book as it is a UVic publication and Unis usually carry each others so as to least get a little bit of spread

[Holden West]

I've seen that book but haven't read it as I think it's now more of a historical document. I'll check it out.

It sounds like a combination of the Downtown Plan and Sun Tzu's Art of War.

[G-Man]

Good ideas so far though...

Too bad they were not implemented back then.

[Holden West]

^Victoria just writes reports--it doesn't actually implement the ideas brought up in studies, silly goose.

[G-Man]

Ok so I finished the book last night.

The first two chapters were great, interesting discussion of community networks as stated above and a very interesting discussion of Chinatown's rebirth in the early 1980's and the subsequent "decline" with the placing of the streetlink shelter there (Author's findings). I also did not realize that Chung Wah Mansions was such a recent addition (1981) to the city and that it was built as affordable housing as it is now market rentals.

Also it was very interesting to note that in 1959 the population of Chinatown by itself was 750 people compared thet i am sure 200 people now.

Last two chapters were on the Elderly and the Dawning Computer Age and are quite out of date in their discussions.