Eagle Glassheim
Local Acts on a Global Stage: Research Seminar on UN Habitat ‘76 in Vancouver
In 1976 the United Nations convened the Habitat conference on human settlements in the emergent and much-admired global city of Vancouver. Delegates from over 150 countries convened to discuss the challenges and possibilities of modern cities, and to draft a set of principles for global urban development. Writing of Habitat a year later, the Canadian planner Humphrey Carver claimed that “what was done in Vancouver may well prove to be a turning point in history – although we cannot yet know if this will prove to be so.” Was it a turning point? If so, for whom and how? If not, why not? What was the legacy of Habitat for its participants, for Vancouver, and for global diplomacy and urban development? In this intensive research seminar, we’ll conceive, research, and write a history of Habitat ‘76. We’ll identify and explore relevant archival collections at UBC and the City of Vancouver. Each student will focus on a different aspect/impact of Habitat and prepare a chapter for a book of collected essays.