I just finished reading Vancouver Matters a book in which artists, architects, and urban planners presents the city of Vancouver through a variety of uncharacteristic urban elements as a “counterpoint to the highly calculated and constructed mythologies of the city.” As a relatively new comer to the West Coast, there have been a number of unique urban elements that I have observed that are particular to Vancouver. Many of these urban features may seem banal and might not even been “seen” by residents but they add to and define the West Coast landscape.
Many of the chapters examine material elements within Vancouver that are ubiquitous to its landscape and explores the different ways of looking at the city by reframing these elements and allowing the “specificity of the material condition to inform a particular” engagement with Vancouver. Each chapter reveals a hidden feature and are as follows: Andesite, Blackberry, Freeway…
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urbanculturalstudies 