Sustainability, Heritage Conservation and Sheltering the Social Economy

Many social economy organizations either operate out of, or own and manage, heritage buildings in urban and rural places. These heritage buildings provide a variety of functions from the provision of affordable housing and safe-houses to artist co-operatives and studio space for cultural groups. Others house social and human services organizations, treatment centres, retail co-operatives and office space for the non-profit sector. This project had the following objectives: To critically assess the relationship between heritage conservation (ideational and built) and social economy organizations’ needs for shelter; and to critically asses the concept of sustainability as it relates to heritage buildings, including the concepts of a ‘built heritage’ of social democracy and an architecture of the social commons.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA