Reference
Books, archives, and sources the project leans on, with a line on why each one matters here.
Visual culture and the city
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Ways of SeeingJohn Berger
The starting point for thinking about how images carry power. Short, still sharp.
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The Image of the CityKevin Lynch
How people build mental maps of where they live. Useful for thinking about landmarks like the gate.
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Learning from Las VegasVenturi, Scott Brown, and Izenour
Signs as architecture. The neon project owes this book a great deal.
Cultural geography and diaspora
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Cultural Geography: A Critical IntroductionDon Mitchell
The clearest account I've found of culture as something made in place, not just found there.
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Cartographies of DiasporaAvtar Brah
On diaspora space and who gets to belong. Underpins the Chinatown entries.
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Saltwater CityPaul Yee
A history of Chinese Canadians in Vancouver. Essential background for the archive.
Method
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Doing Visual EthnographySarah Pink
How to make photographs part of research rather than illustration for it.
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Wanderlust: A History of WalkingRebecca Solnit
Not a method book, but the reason walking is the method.
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Vancouver NeonCity of Vancouver Archives
Digitised photographs of signage from the 1950s onward. Where the neon project started.