Trying to understand Vancouver's Downtown East Side is complex. Which is why professionals come from all over the world to try and understand. Tom Wanklin is a senior planner with the City of Vancouver and he explains many of the issues.

Linda Solomon Wood - The National Observer

The Conversation Lab is a monthly radio program at CFRO FM in Vancouver. It airs on the last Saturday every month at 9am and its available on community and campus radio stations across Canada as well as on your favorite podcasting platform.My focus is on giving community groups, non-profit organizations, and changemakers a voice to talk about those things that are most important to them. Learning how to build bridges into different communities seems critical as we explore the uneven development of colonialism and global capitalism in our community. I'm a veteran broadcaster and Ph.D. Candidate, at UBC's Social Justice Institute. My dissertation is about the cause and effect of polarization and how the words we use open up or shut down our conversations. I'm learning about the science, psychology, cultural, and emotional components of conversation and what they have in common to gain insight and improve on existing knowledge of how we engage with each other whether about climate, race, gender, culture, politics, or social justice issues to contribute to positive social change.CFRO FM (Co-op Radio) is located in Vancouver's downtown eastside on the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations where we are grateful to be able to do this work.