The Vancouver Sun reports:

Chinatown is a designated heritage district at all three levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal.

Now the city wants to make it a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these designated sites all over the world,” said UBC history professor Henry Yu. “In essence the designation recognizes that this spot is important and significant, basically in human history.”

Yu is part of an advisory committee that has worked on the city’s “Historical Discrimination Against Chinese People in Vancouver” initiative.

What types of historic recognition have you seen, or would you like to see, available to protect culturally significant places like Canada’s Chinatowns? What approaches could support both sustainable (re)development and improve quality of life for those living or working in Canada’s Chinatowns? Please leave your suggestions in the comments below.