A leap of faith: Motivations for place of worship redevelopment in Vancouver

This research study explores the motivations for religious congregations in Vancouver, Canada that are redeveloping their sites, building housing (and other ancillary services and uses), while retaining their place of worship function. This is a recent development phenomenon for Vancouver, and at the time of research, no academic studies had yet addressed the topic for the Vancouver context. The purpose is to better understand what internal and external forces may be motivating congregations to pursue such redevelopment schemes, by focusing on their rationale, objectives, and experiences with the projects thus far, from the perspective of the congregations themselves. The lessons learned from this research aim to provide insight on place of worship redevelopment in Vancouver, with a focus on four case studies, and highlight the areas of convergence and divergence from place of worship redevelopment happening in other urban contexts.