How do placemakers conceptualize Chinatown’s identity and translate this into placemaking practice? How has urban development within Chinatown reflected or eroded existing notions of identity? What is the impact of COVID19 on Chinatown communities and how are they responding?

Dr. Henry Tsang and his research team's research project entitled the 'Politics of Placemaking in Chinatown', a collaboration between Athabasca University and University of Calgary Sociology Prof. Matt Patterson, won the RAIC Foundation Bursary Award today and was celebrated in an award ceremony as part of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada hosted RAIC Virtual Conference.

"The RAIC Foundation Bursary was established to support a project consistent with the RAIC Foundation’s mission to promote architecture in its broadest sense. The winning submission will be for a project that encourages public education or enables significant scholarly research that results in publications, exhibitions, symposia, lectures, or conferences."

Jury Comments: 

This submission addresses important topics of gentrification, demographic changes, and anti-Asian racism. It highlights a well-known cultural identity that could become a crisis for traditional cultural identity in North America. The clearly outlined comprehensive plan will lead to widespread dissemination of these ideas, including the publication of papers, and a pilot design furthering the influence of the findings. It also features great collaborations with multiple universities and the involvement of many students. 

Jury Members: Dave Edwards (de Lint +Edwards Architects), Diarmuid Nash (Moriyama Teshima Architects), Susan Ruptash (BDP Quadrangle) 

Congrats to the student research team members including Joshua Chan, Laura Vero-Augustine and Carri Ko.