Conserving the cultural landscape in the city of Victoria: artist live-in studios ... or not?
Date
2003
Authors
Niwa, Louine
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Abstract
City of Victoria municipal policies permitting artist live-in studio developments can potentially protect valuable cultural landscapes downtown early in the 21" century, but they do not. Pertinent policies include the heritage Tax Incentive Program (TIP), live-work and work-live zoning regulations. A Chinatown cultural landscape investigation and surveys (Dragon Alley, Shoal Point) show that gentrification threatens artists. Different styles of urban development in post-industrial Paris, London, and New York are analyzed using a political/planning framework subsequently applied to the City of Victoria. A case study doing institutional ethnography explicates the social relations of a typical low-income artist searching for a live-in studio downtown using a text-work sequencing map and textual analysis. Findings show artists are excluded from ruling relations dominating the policymaking process. Recommendations for policies that encourage development of appropriate, affordable artist live-in studio are transferable to other low-income groups with special architectural needs, such as the elderly and disabled.