A building project bigger than any Vancouver has ever seen hopes to integrate drug addicts, businesses and middle-income earners in one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.
The $200-million redevelopment plan for the abandoned Woodward's department store building in the heart of the Downtown Eastside area is edgy, say urban renewal experts.
The complex will be truly mixed use, with low-income housing beside tony market-priced lofts and condos.
The site is being prepared and construction is slated to be finished in 2009, but planners are already thinking about the need for awareness courses to teach neighbours how to live together.
Hipsters buying into the more affordable Woodward's condos are going to enjoy the neighbourhood more if they learn about the different mental health issues many residents struggle with and the effects of street drugs, said Cameron Gray, a director of housing for the city of Vancouver.
He thinks that might help sensitize newcomers and reduce some fears about the neighbourhood.
"And I think we should be educating residents, too, about what is appropriate behaviour," he said.
Locals think this is a ridiculous idea, the first step in a gentrification process that will push poor people out of the area.
"People don't want to move into this neighbourhood to learn about the people down here," said Muggs Sigurgeirson, vice-president of the Carnegie Centre Association, a community centre and meeting place for homeless people and drug users.
"They want a good housing deal. And then they want to protect their investment and want their property value to go up, so they fight to push homeless people out."
She doesn't think an infusion of middle- or higher-income earners and businesses will help the neighbourhood.
"What's wrong with poor people living together?" she asked.
"I've never heard that living with rich people makes things better. If they want to try this experiment, why don't they start with Point Grey or Shaughnessey, the expensive parts of town."
Gray and other urban designers say projects like Woodward's are necessary to stop the institutionalization of the notorious area.
It has become a beacon for mental health and addiction services, and as a result, new business won't go near it. The most notable development in recent years was a safe injection site for heroin users.
"We want to get more of an income mix down there," said Gray. "Low- income earners - not just addicts and mentally ill but also old-age pensioners, young people who are out there starting their careers and willing to live in a neighbourhood that would have to remain relatively tolerant in terms of behaviour.
"But one that isn't allowed to get too bizarre which we are seeing with the crystal meth impact and crack: The hyper energy among the addicts that can be a bit scary."
The developer, Westbank Projects, and the city have promised not to push out the poor people who have long made the Downtown Eastside their home.
The public was consulted during the design process, which weaves contemporary architecture inspired by the flat- iron style in the neighbourhood with heritage preservation of the building, built in 1908.
What puts the project ahead of its time is the wild mix of tenants it is being developed for.
Two hundred units of non-market housing will shelter low-income people who may be plagued by mental illness and addictions. They will live alongside 350 units of market housing made up of lofts and condominiums.
On the street level, non-profit community organizations will be given spaces to knit the neighbourhood together.
Simon Fraser University has been allocated space for a contemporary arts school. Community gardens and a public park will ring the Woodward's building.
The project also includes a rooftop day-care centre and plantings on the exterior of the building.
The nostalgic Woodward's "W" sign will be retained and restored.
The project is dynamic and could really change the neighbourhood for the better, said Penny Gurstein, who specializes in the socio-cultural aspects of community planning.
She thinks the risks of failure are real, but that it's time to try. The timing is perfect, she said, because the real estate market is hot and people are fighting over small condos downtown.
"Thanks to the real estate crunch at the moment, I think the market housing has a good chance of being filled. There's a really different kind of resident in Vancouver now, even than there was in the '80s when people really didn't think of living downtown. Now it's very acceptable and even desirable."
Gurstein said artists and edgy, maybe high-tech companies will be attracted to the area. And while she worries about gentrification and displacement of the poor, she thinks the project is doing its best to accommodate everyone.
"It's a really complicated issue. I can see both sides. But I think even the activists recognize having a mix of people and legitimate businesses is probably the healthiest thing for everybody. It makes the neighbourhood more revitalized and it loses its stigma.
The Woodward's idea could be a way forward, said Gray, as the city tries to deal with the thousands of low-income housing spots that are decrepit and in need of renovation.
