CITY STORIES: FROM NARRATIVE TO PRACTICE IN VANCOUVER’S OLYMPIC VILLAGE by Lisa Michelle Westerhoff M.A., University of Guelph, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Resource Management and Environmental Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2015 © Lisa Michelle Westerhoff, 2015 Abstract Calls for a more thoughtful and wholehearted inclusion of the humanities and social sciences in defining and answering questions of sustainability have highlighted the importance of integrating a more comprehensive range of values, knowledges and perspectives into our efforts to transition towards sustainable societies. Far from an abstract gesture, such a shift has practical implications for the way sustainability policies and projects are conceived and carried out, including the design and assessment of urban sustainable neighbourhoods. In this dissertation, I show that the study of narrative offers a potent means of untangling the underlying assumptions and meanings embedded within decisions and characterizations of sustainability and sustainable neighbourhoods, which I explore in the context of Vancouver’s Olympic Village. I tell the story of this unique urban development from the perspectives of the many voices that have created it, from its first planners to its present beneficiaries. By combining narrative with insights and methods from social practice theories, I show how the sustainable intentions of the Olympic Village have challenged and intersected with the lived narratives of its residents and managers, two key constituencies in the neighbourhood’s unfolding. I investigate the neighbourhood as an intervention both structural and symbolic to reveal the normative (i.e. discursive) and performative (i.e. material) dimensions of the neighbourhood’s particular narrative of sustainability, and the way these have intervened into residents’ and managers’ practices, perceptions and identities. I conclude that while broad metanarratives of sustainability in both policy and media have played strong roles in shaping the lives of the neighbourhood’s residents and managers, the neighbourhood continues to evolve as its constituents perform new practices in the landscape. I show the important intersection between social and ecological goals, highlighting the need to consider and support liveability in the pursuit of sustainability. Finally, I show that while the neighbourhood has been instrumental in pushing sustainability efforts forward, it also missed key opportunities to address the expectations and experiences of its future inhabitants. ii Preface This research is the original, independent work of L. Westerhoff and was approved by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board, Certificate # H10-02497. The author conducted empirical research and analysis for Chapters 3 through 7. Groundwork for the ideas and theoretical framework presented in Chapter 2 were developed in part as a paper delivered by the author during the Transformation in a Changing Climate conference in Oslo, Norway and published in the conference proceedings as Westerhoff and Robinson (2013). The author developed all concepts with the assistance of the co-author, and prepared the bulk of the manuscript. Data collection and preliminary analysis of the material presented in Chapter 4 was conducted with the assistance of research assistant Maura Forrest. The author provided guidance and conducted the final analysis. Figure 1.1 reprinted under public domain. Figure 1.2 reprinted with permission of Tom Chance and www.vauban.de. Figure 1.3 reprinted with permission of Roger Bailey Inc. Figure 5.1 reprinted with permission of GBL Architects, Inc. Figure 5.4 reprinted with permission of GBL Architects, Inc. Underlying maps in Figures 5.3 and 5.6 used with permission of Vancouver’s Open Government Licence 2.0. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents......................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables..................................................................................................................................x List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xi List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xiii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... xiv Dedication.....................................................................................................................................xv Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................1 1.1 The urban transition .........................................................................................................................3 1.1.1 Neighbourhoods as niches ........................................................................................................5 1.1.2 Neighbourhood sustainability assessment ................................................................................7 1.1.3 A new sustainability ...............................................................................................................10 1.2 Approach and research questions...................................................................................................11 1.2.1 The blind men and the elephant..............................................................................................14 1.2.2 Chapter outline and contributions...........................................................................................15 Chapter 2: From Narrative to Practice .....................................................................................19 2.1 The narrative turn...........................................................................................................................19 2.1.1 Exploring the role of narrative................................................................................................21 2.1.2 Narratives of sustainability .....................................................................................................23 iv 2.1.3 Finding the “right” narrative...................................................................................................25 2.2 The material dimension of narrative ..............................................................................................26 2.2.1 Foundations and concepts of social practice theory ...............................................................27 2.2.2 Explaining persistence and change.........................................................................................30 2.3 Bringing narrative and practice together........................................................................................33 2.3.1 Narratives as interventions into practice.................................................................................34 2.3.2 Practice performance as lived narrative..................................................................................35 2.3.3 Tensions and their resolution..................................................................................................36 2.4 Exploring sustainable neighbourhoods ..........................................................................................38 2.4.1 Some details on method..........................................................................................................41 2.4.2 Ways of analysing...................................................................................................................44 Chapter 3: A City’s Sustainability Story...................................................................................47 3.1 Vancouver’s bright green future ....................................................................................................47 3.2 The liveable city.............................................................................................................................49 3.3 The climate-friendly city................................................................................................................52 3.3.1 “Atmospheric change means we have to change”..................................................................52 3.3.2 “Can we do it? Yes!” ..............................................................................................................54 3.4 A convergence of cities..................................................................................................................55 3.4.1 A model for sustainable development ....................................................................................56 3.4.2 The EcoDensity Charter and Actions .....................................................................................58 3.4.3 The Olympic effect.................................................................................................................59