| Summary: | The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) is in an era of growth,
fundamental change, and reexamination of regional and local quality of life. Within
this context, the complete community policies of the Livable Region Strategic Plan
have been developed to help achieve a region where human community flourishes
within the built and natural environment. The complete communities concept
provides people with broader diversity in the physical and social elements of
community - houses, travel, workplaces, social contacts, public services, recreation
activities, shops and personal services (GVRD, 1995). By allowing this diversity,
people will have a wider range of choices for urban living.
In recent years, municipalities in the GVRD have begun to recognize that cultural
resources are integral to the overall health, vitality and livability of the region. The
role of culture and cultural resources in maintaining and enhancing the region's
livability is acknowledged in two of the complete community policies. Cultural
resources are the "things" which give a neighbourhood, a city, or region its particular
sense of time and place and they are the expressions of what that place is. The
conservation of cultural resources to a community provides a means of making a
neighbourhood, city or region more aesthetically pleasing, and thus more livable.
Neighbourhood movie theatres, for example, are one of the many types of buildings
with cultural significance which may contribute to a community's character, quality of
life and foster a sense of pride for residents in Vancouver communities.
Neighbourhood movie theatres have been an essential component of the
movie-going experience for the citizens of Vancouver since the 1930s. The purpose
of this thesis is to ascertain whether cultural resources, such as a movie theatre,
contribute to a complete community.
Through both a literature review and case study approach, the research sought to
understand the significance of cultural resources, such as a movie theatre, to a
community. The thesis focuses on the case study of the Hollywood Theatre in
Kitsilano to explore how a local cultural resource contributes to the community. A
survey was designed and administered to 60 patrons of the Hollywood Theatre.
The study concludes that the patrons of the Hollywood Theatre indicated that the
theatre contributes to the vitality, and livability of the community. The prospects for
achieving complete communities in established neighbourhoods will be influenced
by local perspectives on growth, and change. Complete community objectives and
strategies may be accepted locally to the degree they are seen as a means to
achieve community aspirations and improve the quality of life of residents. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of === Graduate
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