If you've been reading V.I.A. for a while then you'll recall the year-long project that we did with Rennie Marketing Systems where I moved my family into Vancouver's former Olympic Village and BLOGGED ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE for an entire year. I met a ton of super interesting people while working on the series which wrapped last June. From neighbours and business owners who have become friends to the people who actually helped create this incredible new Vancouver neighbourhood we inhabit, it's been an enriching experience to say the very least. As one of these neighbours/friends Yuri Artibise puts it, we who moved in early are "urban pioneers" in this new space that was previously industrial, and it's exciting to see the development plan (released in 1999) fall into place as more and more buildings go up and more people move in.
One of the most awesome people I was able to connect with in my time writing about The Village on False Creek was Margot Long, a partner at the landscape architecture firm PWL Partnership. PWL is responsible for most of the public spaces that you see down there. Hinge Park, the wetlands, Habitat Island, the seawall design, the streets, every single plant and tree that you see growing down there, and so much more. Margot and I hosted a couple of walking tours where she shed light on some of the hidden secrets and things you might not have known about.
I am incredibly proud to let you know that the Parks and Waterfront of Southeast False Creek just won an Urban Open Space Award from the Urban Land Institute! This award recognizes "outstanding examples of transformative and vibrant public open space – large and small – that have spurred economic and social regeneration of their adjacent communities.". It's a huge deal, and it validates what my neighbours and I have known all along, and that is that the public space in Southeast False Creek is not only the best in the city, but also the world. There are a number of criteria for the award and though SEFC knocked it out of the park (pun intended!) on all of them my two favourites are that it "promotes physical, social, and economic health of the larger community" as well as "providing lessons, strategies, and techniques that can be used or adapted in other communities.". So awesome.
- To learn more about the award and the winners, go HERE.
- To see what else our friends at PWL Partnership are cooking up, go HERE.
- If you're really keen to dig deeper check out the PDF of the development plan for Southeast False Creek (released in 1999 and amended in 2004) HERE.
