Opinion:. For those who live in apartments, parks are more than just a backyard, they are part of their home here in Vancouver and increased density means we need to think of new ways to create parks and green spaces
Author of the article:
Stuart Mackinnon and Kishone RoyPublishing date:
Jun 20, 2022Vancouver is one of the most desirable places to live in the world. Our climate, natural beauty, and year-round outdoor activities makes it a top international tourist destination, help create the livability enjoyed by almost 700, 000 residents.
Our neighbourhoods are all unique. Together they make up the whole of Vancouver, a city that needs to share its housing options and its access to green space and recreational opportunities right across the board. Whether somebody owns, rents, is a co-op member, is unsheltered, or is just visiting, our parks need to be safe spaces that we all feel responsible for, and want to care for. We have to love them, nurture them, visit them, and grow them. Just as a variety of housing is necessary for complete communities, a variety of public spaces will complement these neighbourhoods. With land values ever-rising, bold new ideas for public spaces will be necessary to ensure that there is sufficient public space for all of the new residents within the Broadway corridor.
Over the past 50 years, Vancouver has seen innovative new neighbourhoods along our waterfronts in False Creek — around Granville Island, Yaletown, and the Olympic Village — the West End and Coal Harbour, and the newest community in the East Fraserlands dubbed the River District. What makes these spaces livable is not only the variety of housing — social, community, as well as market — but also their access to parks and recreation.
Each neighbourhood should be open to everyone, and parks are one of the most important ways of expressing this. Social housing, co-ops, market rentals, and condominiums in different neighbourhoods are another way of expressing this because, otherwise, our parks become exclusionary based on wealth.
The Broadway Plan, Vancouver’s newest urban development plan, is a look into one growing neighbourhood, and will only be successful if it includes these values. Innovations in past development ideas, as well as bold new ideas, will make this re-visioning of the Broadway corridor as livable as each of Vancouver’s established neighbourhoods, but unique in its own way. One great strength of the plan is the focus it has on rental housing. It has been a long time since there has been an opportunity to see new purpose-built rental housing again.
For those who live in apartments, parks are more than just a backyard, they are part of your home here in Vancouver. Increased density means we need to think of new ways to create parks and green spaces. Ways to do this could include mid-block lots used as infill green space, exploring partnerships with land owners and stratas so that the space between and surrounding buildings could become common areas open to all, in addition to the delivery of green space through redevelopment.
Other innovative ideas are re-purposing appropriate streets as linear green spaces, such as what was done to create Lilian To Park at 17th and Yukon. Using air space to create rooftops parks and gardens on top of lower-rise buildings, similar to the new park proposed for the Oakridge development, could utilize otherwise unused space as public amenities.
The Park Board, in conjunction with the city, can make the most of existing parks by renewing them so they can withstand more intense usage. The city can collaborate with the Park Board to turn city-owned lands into permanent open green spaces.
A new community centre could be created in conjunction with new developments. Securing social, seniors or community housing on top of a community centre would ensure a community amenity along with needed purpose-built housing. Another innovation could be securing street-front locations for smaller programming spaces — a community centre doesn’t have to be contained just within one building.
By thinking outside the box, being creative and using every available space, public amenities don’t have to come at the cost of losing valuable space for housing.
With an estimated 260,000 new residents envisioned for Vancouver by 2050, the need to plan for new housing is crucial. We cannot afford hand-wringing or desperate pleas for a utopian past that never really existed. With the limited space available, density focused on height is the path forward. How we build that density will be crucial to keeping Vancouver a livable city, open to all, regardless of income. The inclusion of parks and green-space will enhance that livability and promote strong communities.
Kishone Roy is an affordable housing advocate and former CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association; Stuart Mackinnon is a natural and public space advocate and is an elected Vancouver park board commissioner. They are both Vision Vancouver candidates for City Council.
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