Our first visualization, a choropleth map which focuses on the distribution of heritage sites across the city, allows viewers to explore how heritage designations shape our understanding of Vancouver’s past. With this map, we hope to reveal patterns of preservation and recognition within the diverse neighbourhoods of Vancouver.
Notably, the neighbourhoods of Kitsilano, Strathcona, and Downtown feature the most amount of heritage sites, regardless of whether they are institutionally registered. Kitsilano, once a hub for industry and working-class housing, later became associated with counterculture movements and gentrification. Historically home to one of the largest Japanese Canadian communities before internment in World War II, its heritage sites reflect a layered history of displacement and urban transformation. Strathcona, Vancouver’s oldest residential neighbourhood, is central to the city’s immigrant history, particularly the Chinese Canadian and Italian communities. Adjacent to Chinatown, it has long been a site of activism against urban renewal projects that threatened historic homes and businesses. Today, heritage designations play a role in preserving its unique character amid ongoing redevelopment. Downtown holds many of Vancouver’s earliest commercial and civic buildings, from the grand Edwardian-era structures of Gastown to the Art Deco and modernist landmarks that define the city’s skyline. This area’s heritage sites chart the evolution of Vancouver as a growing metropolis while reflecting tensions between preservation and modernization.