On behalf of Simon Fraser University and the former SFU Chancellor Milton Wong, you are invited to attend this film screening and dialogue featuring the international work of the Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
“From Cairo to Vancouver Urban Regeneration Not Gentrification: Using Heritage to Revitalize Marginalized Neighbourhoods”
Date: Monday June 9th, 2008
In recent decades many inner city neighborhoods in both the developed and developing world have suffered from severe socio-economic decline despite continued economic and urban growth. Efforts to revitalize these neighborhoods have often resulted in gentrification, a process which forces the original lower income residents to leave or to become further impoverished. Although Cairo, one of the world’s largest cities, is a world away from Vancouver, the two cities nevertheless share the common challenge of deprived inner city neighborhoods. They also share a number of cultural, social, human and economic assets which can be used to promote urban revitalization.
In Cairo the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has used the restoration of cultural assets, in particular the development of an enormous urban park and the mobilization of the community as a catalyst to alleviate poverty. Coupled with the support of targeted socioeconomic development programs, residents are improving their livelihoods and their quality of life.
The is story of urban revitalization and its lessons will resonate deeply with Vancouver residents who seek to harness the rapid growth of the city and major investments such as the building of Woodwards and the location of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts.
Drawing on the case study of Cairo and local experiences in Vancouver, this dialogue will explore how large scale cultural investments can be used to revitalize deprived neighbourhoods.
http://www.bridgesthatunite.ca/from-cairo-to-vancouver
Events – Canada’s World
Ismailimail 