Managing Cultural Heritage

Building an inclusive community begins with understanding indigenous people’s history in the place, acknowledging the role of migration in bringing all non-indigenous peoples to the territories of indigenous people, and recognizing that cultural heritage and memories are central to a continuing and evolving community. Therefore place-making and community planning for neighbourhoods like Chinatowns in the world require a value-based and living heritage approach to its conservation.

Chinatowns are communities that symbolize how Chinese-Canadians and other minorities overcame hardship and discrimination together, and helped make the cities they are in more inclusive and just societies. Today, as historic neighbourhoods, they continue to play an important role in Canada’s evolving cultural identity. Jessica Chen of Wabi Sabi Planning Lab has a long history being involved with the research, community organizing and community planning of Chinatowns in Canada. Currently, she is working with both Vancouver and Montreal’s Chinatown communities to safeguard their cultural heritage.

Photo Credit: Jessica Chen.

Photo Credit: Jessica Chen.

Vancouver Chinatown

Wabi Sabi Planning Lab worked with the City of Vancouver, Legacy Stewardship Group and the University of British Columbia through its Chinatown Transformation process to develop its Cultural Heritage Asset Management Plan (CHAMP).

Chinatown Transformation process / City of Vancouver
https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/chinatown-transformation.aspx

National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism / UBC (May 2021) :
As a member of the Forum’s Steering Committee, Jessica Chen moderated the session on grass-root organizing and coalition building, including Chinatown organizers from across the country. See the final report:
https://events.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/UBC-National-Forum-Anti-Asian-Racism-Report_18-Oct-2021_web.pdf


Chinatown Re-imagined Forum (October 2021)
Wabi Sabi Planning Lab participated in the opening session on “Historic Urban Landscape: tangible and intangible heritage” to offer her thoughts on the importance of connecting the various forms of heritage and examine the current approach in renewing tangible heritage assets through continued and renewed cultural uses.
https://www.chinatownreimagined.ca

Photo Credit: City of Montreal Archive

Photo Credit: City of Montreal Archive

Montreal Chinatown

Jessica Chen is the Executive Director of the JIA Foundation that she co-founded in 2022. It is an organization formed out of organizing led by the Chinatown Working Group, a community collective that Jessica was also a founding member and deeply involved in for 3 years. The CWG mobilised the community members around the issues of gentrification, speculative real estate development and the loss of community spaces, initiating a city-wide consultation by the OCPM. In 2022, CWG winded down to make space for the JIA Foundation to emerge as the central organization connecting the dots on the importance of equitable development, policy advocacy and education/cultural programming.

For more information:
2022-present: JIA Foundation
https://jiafoundationmtl.org

2019-2022: Chinatown Working Group
https://www.csu.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Letter-from-Chinatown-Working-Group.pdf


Photo Credit: Mah Society of North America

Photo Credit: Mah Society of North America

Research & Publication

Wabi Sabi Planning Lab has conducted multiple research projects and presented extensively about the intangible and built heritage of Chinatowns in Canada. The following are some highlights.