大象传媒

Bill Yuen鈥檚 understanding of Vancouver鈥檚 urban heritage goes well beyond the age of its buildings. As Executive Director of the since 2015, he has created opportunities for place-based and intersectional identity-based knowledge of the city鈥檚 development. In 大象传媒鈥檚 Urban Studies master鈥檚 program, he has focused his thesis research on sustainability and community building within the challenging realm of housing provision in Vancouver. His excellent work in the program has won him graduate fellowships and awards, including the Urban Studies Alumni Award for Community Engagement.

Belle Cheung, Senior Manager of Strategic Initiative in the City Manager鈥檚 Office at the City of Vancouver, has worked with Yuen through the Heritage Vancouver Society. She says, 鈥淚 cannot think of someone else who has had such an outsized impact in supporting communities, the practice of heritage, and in advocating tirelessly for a more equitable city.鈥�

Yuen says that his Urban Studies Program experience has helped him in his role at the Society.

鈥淲hat we [at the Heritage Vancouver Society] try to do is relate heritage to urbanism鈥攈ow heritage is connected to the city and relevant to urbanism and contemporary life now,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o, I think the program helps me to see those things more clearly. For example, I鈥檝e learned how ethnography is important鈥攈elping people tell stories about places.鈥�

Yuen also took Kamala Todd鈥檚 URB 413-613 class, Storyscapes: Decolonizing the City through Arts and Culture. He says he learned key information in this course.

鈥淚n terms of heritage work, there always was this one story of Vancouver, but we know that there are many stories of Vancouver,鈥� says Yuen. 鈥淲e know that the stories of the Indigenous nations have been left out or ignored. Learning about ideas of how to bring back those stories into the city is very important.鈥�

Outside of his work with the Heritage Vancouver Society, Yuen serves on committees like the steering committee. On September 9^th, 2022, the Gain Wah restaurant in Chinatown caught on fire. This fire forced the closure of the 30-year-old restaurant and the displacement of the 39 residents living above it. Yuen and others are helping to try and restore the restaurant as a social enterprise.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a business that has a deep connection to the cultural and social context of Chinatown, but also is an affordable cultural food asset,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that there鈥檚 a place where people feel welcome and comfortable that鈥檚 maybe not so cost-prohibitive and not so fancy.鈥�

Yuen鈥檚 knowledge of Vancouver鈥檚 urban development and community involvement have led many to call on him to give public talks and lead guided tours. He has also been quoted by various media outlets, and acts as an advisor to Kwantlen Polytechnic University鈥檚 Department of Anthropology and the UBC鈥檚 Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement.

Though he has a busy life outside the Urban Studies Program, Yuen is excelling in the program and is completing a promising thesis under the supervision of Professors Meg Holden and Mohsen Javdani. Yuen鈥檚 thesis focuses on the political economy underlying co-operative housing, including an examination of the local Vancouver discourse and its evolution since the 1970s, and the economic theoretical underpinnings of co-operative housing as an alternative to private provision of housing on the free market that has different implications for sustainability and community life.