Following up on my conversation with Josh White at the City of Vancouver, see previous post. Here's where the planning reform is landing across the city, and the hard question underneath.
TOD around SkyTrain. The Rupert & Renfrew Station Area Plan, first area plan since Broadway, was unanimously approved, bringing 10,000+ homes and 8,000 jobs around East Van's stations over 25 years.
Neighbourhood plans along major arteries. Along corridors like Main, Commercial, Kingsway, Fraser, and Victoria, the City is enabling 6–8 storey rental and mixed-use buildings, fast-tracking housing where transit and services already exist. A mid-density bridge between the high-rise TOD zones and the lower-scale villages.
17 Village Plans. Centered on existing retail clusters, these aim to create hubs where residents can access daily shops and amenities within a short walk, the 5-minute neighbourhood idea made real? The Plans would rezone ~13,000 parcels across 17 areas. The public hearing started July 14 and drew massive turnout with around 1,000 written submissions.
Granville Street & the FIFA moment. The World Cup gave Vancouver a live preview of what a pedestrianized downtown can be. Five car-free blocks, packed patios, real street life and with Switzerland, where I'm from, playing three matches at BC Place including a dramatic penalty shootout win against Colombia, I got to experience the atmosphere firsthand. Council has now extended the pedestrian zone through Labour Day, with a Christmas market under discussion.
But here's the thing: events like FIFA can prove the concept, but a pedestrian zone can't rely on events to feel alive. It needs to generate its own energy from within, from the residents, the daily routines, the Tuesday afternoon coffee runs. That requires people actually living nearby. The Granville Street Plan gets this: the 800 Granville project, just unanimously approved, delivers two towers (39 and 43 storeys), 523 rental homes, a restored Commodore Ballroom, and a 100-room hotel. That kind of residential density is what turns a pedestrian street from an event venue into a living neighbourhood.
But will it get built? Vancouver remains one of the five least affordable cities in the world (median price-to-income: 10.8). Prices down ~6% YoY. Condo starts dried up. Prices rose 53% from 2015–2025 while incomes rose 13%. Construction costs are among Canada's highest.
The City knows: DCL cuts, rental relief programs, and the new ACC all signal awareness. As Josh put it, the old model where ever-rising prices absorbed whatever costs the City layered on is done. And the planning framework needs to reflect that.
The regulatory reform is necessary. Whether it's sufficient, that's what we'll all be watching. What's your take on this?
Original-Beitrag auf LinkedIn ansehen
