RECAP: False Creek Flats Planning Workshop

photos and words by Oliver Gaskell

Change is afoot for an oft-overlooked area of Vancouver. Since the announcement of the relocation of St Pauls Hospital to the False Creek Flats, the spotlight has been firmly fixed on the area as the city begins to deliberate how to transform it into a new industrial hub. Rebranding the area as The Flats, the city has held six different events, each focusing on a different area of redevelopment: industry and employment intensification, industry and technology, connectivity and transport, urban food systems, culture, and creating great places.

Creating Great Places

I attended the final workshop, ‘Creating Great Places’, held in The Flats at the National Works Yard on National Ave. There was a pretty healthy turnout which I hope was mirrored at other events, with about 40 members of public, as well as a handful of facilitators from the City of Vancouver. The workshop itself was run very well and immediately got people thinking about what they personally would like to see in The Flats. Following that brief brainstorming session, participants split into groups depending on their personal interests and were let loose on giant maps of the city. This sparked interesting discussions over how to create a great place to visit in The Flats, rather than having it be a place solely for coming to work.

Making Connections

The point people seemed to come back to most was ways of making connections to The Flats: both personal connections between people working there, and also more formal connections in the shape of public transit and bike routes. The layout of the area causes some issues with this due to the large amount of rail lines. However, bridges over the train tracks could help forge some of these connections into the locale. In particular, a connection from VCC Clark into The Flats seems to be vital, as it is the closest transit station to the eastern edge; currently it is a long walk around to buildings that you can see from the station. Participants were heavily in favour of making these connections into ‘green connections’, helping fulfil the City of Vancouver’s target for The Flats to be the ‘greenest place to work in the world’. One suggestion was the creation of a green corridor from Strathcona Park to Thornton Park in front of Pacific Central utilising the green space planned for the new St Pauls site.

Emulating Granville Island

Another way to create this connectivity is by utilizing the amenities which already exist in The Flats, creating special places along the walkways akin to ‘Railspur Alley’ on Granville Island. These would help entice visitors into The Flats which would increase foot traffic to local businesses. Ideas for night markets, concert venues and bars were also forthcoming as the lack of housing in the area would allow for ‘noisier’ evening events to occur without the possibility of neighbourhood disapproval.

With Emily Carr moving its main campus to The Flats in 2016 there is an opportunity to build on the existing arts cluster in the area and build a truly vibrant arts quarter for Vancouver. Participants highlighted the need to find smaller spaces to curate art experiences and also utilize dead space between buildings to place art in different spaces. One way to do this could be through the use of local art to create enticing walkways, further increasing the connectivity of The Flats.

Greening and Gardening

A vocal portion of the audience was dedicated to the greening of the area, and specifically the safeguarding of the community gardens in The Flats, specifically Cottonwood and Strathcona. These gardens provide food resources to the city and are a much needed green space as well as an urban refuge for many. There was also talk of potentially day-lighting streams from China Creek Park to False Creek which could provide the area with much needed relief from the threats of rising sea levels and climate change.

The event showcased a lot of exciting ideas for the False Creek Flats as well as a good level of engagement from the local community. The City is now taking the ideas from its six events and will be creating further plans to be displayed at an Open House in September. It will be interesting to see what they draw up, and hopefully will lead to further engagement and ideas from the community to create a vibrant industrial quarter on the edge of Vancouver’s downtown.