This just in… a couple of interesting public space-related initiatives that you might have heard about, which combined tell something of a story about public life in Vancouver. (Okay, I’ll leave it to you to determine whether there’s really a link here: it’s just that news of these two items landed on my desk at the same time and I couldn’t help but think about the connection.)

First up, a initiative coming out of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.

As part of the City’s 125th birthday celebrations, the Foundation is launching a project called Places that Matter and is asking people to help create a list of 125 favourite places around the Vancouver. These don’t have to be public spaces per se (though chances are there’ll more than a few that’ll make the list), but can include buildings, streets, natural settings and more… including, it would seem, people and events.

The definition is broad and inclusive, and you can submit a photo, as well as a short explanation of why you thing the site is so important. The only limitation is that the ‘places’ submitted have to have a history prior to 1991 (or 20-25 years old) and be located within the boundaries of the City of Vancouver. (It’s too bad about the latter part, as it means there will be some favourite places that are excluded as a result (like the Central library building, as well as some of our excellent new community centres and parks.)

The call for submissions lasts until March 15 at which point the public will have a chance to vote on their favourites through to early April. Once the 125 ‘winners’ are determined, a commemorative plaque will be developed for each and installed over the summer and Fall. You can also see the spots that have been nominated already.

One other note: you can also check out the Heritage Foundation’s display at the Central Library (interesting venue choice!) this Saturday, February 26 between 10am and 4pm. They’ll be taking nominations there as well.

Of course places need people in them in order to generate a sense of vitality. And that’s where the second piece comes into play. (Or not!)

Tom and Gary’s Decentralized Dance Party – which were part of the lively (and unofficial) Olympic shenanigans a year ago – had planned an outdoor party to coincide with the one year anniversary of Sidney Crosby’s gold-medal goal in the hockey final. The event, which was to take place this Saturday night on Granville Street, has drawn grumbles from City. Among the concerns that have been outlined: crowd control, safety, security, sidewalk congestion and sanitation issues. A letter from the City’s Legal Department has been presented to the organizers, asking them to think twice.

Are we back to No Fun City?

It’s an interesting dilemma, because on one hand, it is important to ensure spaces that are safe for residents and partiers alike. On the other hand… it’s Granville Street. It’s Saturday night. The so-called entertainment district, for better or worse, was created precisely for this sort of aggregation of people. Shouldn’t we already be able to deal with these sorts of things? After all, it’s probably the most policed part of the city as it is. And while the lack of bathrooms may pose a problem, perhaps its time to look at even more public toilets in the downtown. The buses, well, that’s a decent point. (Probably should have left them on Howe and Richards, but that’s another story…).

Reading between the lines, the real issue, I think, has something to do with a sort of civic anxiety about the unpredictability of public life – which manifests itself in the effort (some would say need), to maintain control over public gathering. This is where things like insurance waivers and permits and all of the other tools and mechanisms come into place.

The antithesis of this control is spontaneity – even planned spontaneity of the Decentralized Dance Party sort. But perhaps we as a city need to start thinking a little harder about how to enable (support, allow–pick a verb…) these sorts of things. After all, Tom and Gary have done a pretty decent job of throwing flash-mob style parties over the last couple of years, and surely this counts for something.

Talk to planners and engineers about public life and they’ll start to reference about the idea of “programming public space” to make sure it works. The idea here, is to create a scheduling of activities and events that help to activate a space and provide a degree of animation for public enjoyment.

But while the notion of ‘programming’ space is useful, there is also an equally important need to allow for unprogrammed activity as well. This is how you achieve a balance of activities and street life that feels authentic, not Disney, in nature. And this is why Tom and Gary’s gig is so cool — it’s because it’s not really part of the ‘official’ City-sanctioned “Rediscover Granville” narrative… even though it fits with it so very neatly.

Part of the challenge, for people like Tom and Gary, is that being ‘unprogrammed’ and spontaneous within the existing regulatory format can be onerous, costly, and challenging. First there’s the Special Event Permit fee, then there are insurance considerations, followed by potential requirements for extra police and sanitation workers and other costs. By the time you’ve added all these items together, grassroots initiatives of this sort can end up costing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

I’m not saying that these items shouldn’t be accounted for. But perhaps it’s time for the City to review how these sorts of events are handled. After all, if we’re at a point where we can look at cutting red-tape for temporary performance spaces, then maybe we could also start to think of doing the same for our outdoor gathering spaces as well.

Impromptu Water Display at David Lam Park

Poor David Lam Park can’t cut a break.

As we speak, half of David Lam Park’s main field (and with it: most of it’s functionality) is closed off due to construction of BC Hydro’s City Central Transmission Project. The park is the staging ground for drilling and installation of a crossing beneath False Creek that will connect a new substation in Mount Pleasant to ones downtown. Unfortunately, the work site isn’t even conveniently taking up one side of the field; it’s sort of awkwardly placed right in the middle of it. Construction is scheduled to be completed by early June, followed by the re-planting of sod and trees. I’ve been told that the annual outdoor Jazz Festival concert at David Lam Park will still take place at the end of June, whether crews are still on site or not. Festival organizers are adamant about keeping the space and will work around the construction zone if they have to.

It pains me to see a recently restored park get dug up like this time and time again. Just a year ago David Lam Park was the site of LiveCity Yaletown for the Olympics. During that time, the unsuspecting grass field was transformed into a (fenced) celebratory plaza of sorts, anchored by the monstrous Coca-Cola, Panasonic, and Samsung pavilions, and fueled by nightly concerts. But even before the Olympics began the park was closed for an extended period to get all of it ready.

And once it was all over, we did our best to remove those giant muddy footprints and return the park to its former self. In doing so, we were able to have it summer-ready for more inclusive annual events like the Jazz Festival and outdoor movie screenings. The volleyball leagues and pick-up soccer games came and went. We were even able to band together on a cold November morning and create a human art installation visible from a freakin’ satellite! There was a slight hiccup when hopes for a community garden didn’t materialize but that’s okay. All was well again.

But I guess I spoke too soon. I hope that BC Hydro can keep to their construction schedule because I’d just like my park back. I’m sure it misses just being a park too.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world… a crowd gathers for New
Year’s celebrations at Mrs Macquerie’s Point in Sydney Australia.
Submitted by VPSN member Lisa M.

A late year greeting to all of you from the gang at the VPSN. This is it: day 365 of 2010 and we’re a mere few hours away from a brand new year. We hope you’re having a grand time with you various celebrations.

We wanted to take this opportunity to send you out a quick thank you for all your support this past year. 2010 has been an exciting one for us – and a busy year for public space related issues in the Vancouver. We had the opportunity to be involved in a great number of initiatives, and it’s been fun take this holiday period to reflect on the public space ‘scene’ in Vancouver over the past 12 months.

This time last year, Vancouverites of all political stripes were gearing up for the Olympics, planning a range of activities. In addition to some pre-Games advocacy work around Olympic gathering areas, corporate signage and the deployment of surveillance technology, the VPSN also launched our blog during the 1^st month of 2010 – using it to report out on urban issues – starting with the Game’s related transformation of the City. Since that time, we’ve seen our readership grow in leaps and bounds… and it’s been a great tool to connect with residents of the City about civic affairs issues.

2010 was also a big year on the active transportation front. The Olympic transportation plan marked a watershed moment for shaping urban mobility during the Games. But that was only the start! The Vancouver Courier recently declared their ‘Newsmaker of the Year’ to be the bicycle – no small tribute to the many initiatives that have taken place concerning the humble two-wheeler this year. Chief amongst these was the installation of the Dunsmuir viaduct separated bikelane in the Spring of this year and the more recent opening of the Hornby Street separated lane. These weren’t controversy free, to be sure, and yes, the process could have been handled better… but regardless, we feel that they will help to put Vancouver on the path to a more sustainable, healthful future.

Pedestrian issues have also begun to come to the fore and we’ve been working to support these where possible. There been an increasing focus on improving the pedestrian experience, the walkability of neighbourhoods, and attending to issues of pedestrian safety. And with the City focusing on “green mobility” as part of its Bright Green Future initiative and planning to develop a new Transportation Plan in 2011, this positive trend will only continue. Our prediction? 2011 will be to pedestrian issues, what 2010 was to the bicycle. Just watch what happens when the international Walk 21 Conference landing in town in November.

Animating the city’s public spaces has always been part of our strategy to focus attention on the public realm. This year was no exception! In the summer time we transformed Granville Street into a giant percussive ensemble with our Stick it to the Streets event. Later in the year, we were pleased to roll out two of our annual favourites: in September we participated in our third Park(ing) Day celebration – that international day of parking space reclamation (this year we had sites in Davie Village and at City Hall). Then in late October, we had our annual Halloween transit party – a massive costumed take-over of the Seabus. And then in November we managed to get 100 folks together on Vancouver’s coldest, snowiest day, to make a giant ‘ecological footprint’ as part of an international public art project.

In 2010 we continued to wear our advocacy hats on all aspects of Vancouver’s public space policy – from arguing against the deployment of surveillance cameras in schools to raising the alarm over new forms of corporate advertising, from to registering concern with increased fees for community-based events, to taking a stance against the proposal to extend the municipal vote to corporations.

We’ve also weighed in on site-specific spaces as well – we participated in the discussion around moving the Vancouver Art Gallery, developed new community gardens, completed an ethnographic film on Yaletown Park, and focused a considerable amount of resources towards advocating for a sufficient quantity and quality of public space (and other public benefits) as part of the development of Northeast False Creek. And of course there’s another item we’re very excited about: the push to transform the 800 block of Robson Street into a public square (a move that was recently supported by all three municipal parties!)

This was just a sampling of some of the things we were involved in last year. As with all our projects, the aforementioned initiatives gave us the chance to work with fantastic volunteers, amazing community organizations and stellar people in local government, schools and universities and the community at large. It’s an honour for us to be able to collaborate with Vancouver’s many excellent space-makers and urban enthusiasts. 

* * * * * 

VPSN Coordinators also took the first weekend in December to plan out some of our activities for 2011. Here’s a sneak peek of a few of the many things you can expect to see over the next 12 months:

• Where’s the Square II – stay tuned for our summertime animation of Robson Street – with a fantastic food-themed event.
• Vancouver Votes / Public Space Manifesto – 2011 is election year, and as with the last municipal contest, the VPSN will be developing a new manifesto and a number of election related events aimed at putting public space issues on the agenda. 
• Relaunching PubliCity – we’ve had an issue ready to go for a few months now… and we’ll be rolling this out in the first few months of 2011.
• Transforming Broadway – Due in January, our report on transforming Broadway into a Great Street will showcase exciting options for the future of Vancouver’s longest east/west corridor.
• Speaker Series / Backgrounders / Websites – We’ve been developing new backgrounders on public health, parking space reclamation, and greenspaces, to name a few. We’ll also be launching version 2.0 of our website, holding key speaker series events and a range of other open-source materials
• Collaborative ventures – We’ve got some exciting things lined up with the Museum of Vancouver and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and other projects in the hopper as well.

And there will be lots of other stuff coming as well… including all your favourite annual events, parties, film fest activities and more. 

Finally… don’t forget, the first big community opportunity to embrace public space takes place tomorrow morning, January 1, with the annual polar bear swim. Even if you don’t brave the chilly waters of English Bay yourself, the scene is a festive one.

The year begins and ends with celebrating in public space. Happy 2011 everyone! Very best wishes to you all.

Your friends at the Vancouver Public Space Network

As people concerned about the health of our public life, we are excited for the good work done each year by the Media Democracy team. As the year winds down and we reflect on the events of 2010 (The Olympics, the G20 in Toronto, etc) it is important to recognize where and when media has narrowed democratic discourse, and where it has fostered more meaningful public discussion. Victor attended a panel on “Global Protest and Media” that examined the relationship between global protests and media representation.

“Ever since the Seattle WTO demonstrations in 1999, global protests have become a part of the mainstream mediaís image bank. Whether covering the recent G20 protests in Toronto, or opposition to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the mainstream media have, for most of the past decade, painted citizen activism and engagement with the same brush. What are the shortcomings of mainstream media representations of protest and negotiation at global marquee events such as the G20 and the Olympics? How are alternative and independent media re-writing this story to make it more diverse?”

The panel was helmed by Stuart Poyntz, Assistant Professor at the SFU School of Communication and consisted of David Eby, Founder of PIVOT Legal Society and Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, Cathryn Atkinson, editor for Rabble.ca, Issac K. Oommen, editor of the Vancouver Media Co-op and Irwin Oostinde, Executive Director of W2 Community Media Arts.

David Eby began with a sharp critique on the media representation during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. He argued that the government and media were complacent together in managing dissent and deliberately failed to capture the multitude of view points of the opposition. Instead, the spotlight was solely fixed on the criminal and violent elements. This was accomplished through three means. First, civil disobedience was tantamount to terrorist activity and fell under the category of criminal protest. Eby provided an apt example encapsulating his argument: a Province headline titled “Olympic security force of 16,500 prepares for ‘criminal protests’.” Second, there was a tendency in the media to take the most extreme statements as the most representative of the Olympic opposition. And third, the uncritical repetition of police statements of the ‘threat’ represented by protestors. Examples cited were of rocks concealed by paper mache and marbles being portrayed as violent weapons, when instead they were designed to make noise.

Eby singled out the unaccredited media centres, represented as “neutral media distribution outlets,” as the most effective way government manipulated media. The amount of resources allotted allowed the government to effectively control the agenda of news stories. “If journalists were curious about homelessness, they’d be told well there’s an official homeless information centre in the Downtown Eastside you can go to.”

He concluded with an amusing email back-and-forth exchange of a failed attempt to get a press release distributed with information on planned BCCLA media briefings the BCCLA. The conversation between Eby and the media centre was fraught with long delays and periods of no response.

Following Eby, Cathryn Atkinson took up the podium and spoke about the role Rabble played within alternative media and its G-20 Toronto summit coverage. Rabble covered the event extensively and was very active during the summit, Twittering about information as it happened. Atkinson pointed out the mainstream media had many of its journalists exit the area due to possible detainment or arrest and were thus unequipped to report the G-20 fully from the ground. One of Rabble’s reporters, Krystalline Kraus, was detained during the day of and was asked if Rabble was sending out messages to the protestors. The fact that the police asked this question signaled to Atkinson the general attitude toward dissenting media.

Atkinson made a call for critical analysis and conversations of protests. “There’s a huge need for people to have this dialogue because journalism is meant to be that,” she said.”The protests doesn’t end and begin on the street.”

Issac Oommen’s presentation centred on the Vancouver Media Co-op, its origins and methods of engagement in the city through workshops and skills training. He spoke about how the Media Co-op is “pretty much the most controversial media organization in Vancouver” and hope they will continue to be so by challenging the dominant perception of what is independent media.

Last up for the panel was Irwin Oostinde. Speaking about W2: Community Media Arts, the cultural hub in the DTES aims to provide a media infrastructure within Vancouver–distancing itself from an activist or mainstream media organization. As an independent community media organization, they espouses peer-based learning & training and bottom up stories emanating from the community. The most interesting piece Oostinde noted during his talk was Vancouver as a social media hub. A Ph.D. student in England tracked Twitter traffic from the W2 and True North Media House, a media collaboration campaign consisting of about four or five people during the Olympics. He noticed an interesting phenomenon where True North’s tweets only consisted of information going outwards, all emanating from one source, with no interaction whereas the W2 had a “polyflower” effect with multiple Tweeters with different distinct clusters communicating. It was a satisfying and rewarding experience for Oostinde as it was indicative that the W2 was reaching out to the community and capturing different voices.

Overall, the panel was very interesting with a good mix between featuring alternative and independent media organizations in Vancouver and critiques of mainstream media representations during the Olympics and G-20. More pertinently, the discussion pointed to the larger theme of the role public space plays in facilitating civic discussion and the free exchange of ideas. According to the panel, this did not happen during the Olympics and G-20 with the mainstream media completely failing to represent citizen activism and engagement accurately. Public space does not only support democracy, but forms the basis of the site of everyday democracy. A prime example being the respatialization of the site of everyday democracy towards the digital sphere with the extensive role Twitter played during the 2009-2010 Iranian election protests. With the changing media landscape and push towards digital spaces, it will be interesting to see what the future holds.

A tall glass of water. A bit of rest.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a 10 days since the Olympics were here. Funny how the difference between the Olympic crowds and regular-old Vancouver populations left so many residents I spoke to during the Games feeling like they were actually visiting another city. Were we all tourists in our own back yard?

And the much anticipated hang-over? Maybe the post-Olympic condition wasn’t about over-indulgence after all (though that certainly happened) but, rather, about this idea of travel, or more precisely, about returning from a trip to a place (a carnival?, Mardi Gras? Club Med?) where the normal rules of exchange were suspended. I know more than a few folks who spent the early part of last week feeling a bit of the post-vacation blues …even though they hadn’t gone any further than a few blocks from their apartment.

Memories and the word on the street.

The metaphors of the 2010 Games started to shift noticeably over the last week and a half. For example, the idea of memory (“best memories”, “defining memories”, “personal memories”) seemed, in news stories at any rate, to replace the more austere-sounding notion of legacy. Whereas the official voices – the John Furlong’s and Gordon Campbell’s of the 2010 Olympics – spent so much time in the lead-up touting the legacies of the Games, things have seemed to quickly lose this sense of monumentalism. A legacy is more grandiose, more funerary – like a bequeathal – in tone. Maybe by casting these ideas with in the frame of memory we are personalizing what was a much more social event than was, perhaps, expected.

Or maybe legacies are just more dangerous to talk about now that the Games are done and the Federal and Provincial budgets are being rolled out.

Mad Science.

My favorite bits of language were found in the commentary on the effect the Olympics were having on Vancouver’s urban scene and public spaces. Check out the following examples.

The first is from journalist Frances Bula:

“One of the many interesting phenomena that have emerged during the Games (which is actually turning into a giant social experiment in our city) is the way the massive crowds are redefining public space in Vancouver.” Frances Bula, Granville Street reborn as the No.1 party spot, February 22, 2010.

This, from author Lance Berelowitz:

“Has anyone noticed how Vancouver’s downtown streets have become a giant social experiment during these Olympic Winter Games?” Lance Berelowitz, Taking Back Vancouver’s Streets, Vancouver Observer, February 24, 2010.

And finally, Director of Planning at the City, Brent Toderian:

“As a host city, Vancouver has become a massive urban laboratory, with so many opportunities to learn, and we’re soaking it all up… As we are coming to the end of the final week, a few examples of big experiments and learnings come to mind.” Brent Toderian, Vancouver Olympics a Living Laboratory for Urbanism, Planetizen, February 25, 2010.

All three draw enthusiastically on the tropes of science, of laboratories and experiments. Here we have it: the levers are thrown, the buttons pressed and… It’s alive! It’s alive!

Of course, science, when done outside of the castle walls, is all about focus and control, dispassionate observation, and the management of variables. For those involved in planning for this two-week event, it must have felt a bit like that when the people started to arrive — like the vast unfolding of something that had, for so long, been little more than hypotheses and projections. The switch had been flicked to ‘on.’

Let’s hope that the science metaphor sticks for a bit. Experiments are meant to produce knowledge. There are findings in all this laboratory work that can truly benefit the city – in future work on transportation planning, in diversifying our public art, in recognizing the vitality of Vancouver’s downtown streets, in enabling spontaneous gatherings and in debating and incorporating the diverse politics of resistance – just to name but a few.

There has not yet been any directive given to gather our collective test results… but that would be a good idea. Something that will help us to learn and grow. Something a bit more tangible than a memory.

But first… the Paralympics!

For those with an interest in municipal infrastructure and how it gets used, it appears that we have, collectively, been caught with our pants down. One of our sources at Metro Vancouver ‘leaked’ us this revealing image.

It’s a graph produced by Metro’s Water Treatment and Systems Control Division, and it details water usage patterns on the closing day of the Olympics, last Sunday (February 28).

Usually, when we think of sports and infrastructure, we think of stadiums. This graph, however, does a nice job of illustrating the relationship between a couple of key events (the Gold medal hockey game and the closing ceremonies) and another type of infrastructure — the municipal water system.

On the left, a first series of spikes demarcates the golden truth of the matter. If the game itself had some moments of urgency and tension, these peaks in water usage during the intermissions show that at least part of this tension was mitigated by a bit of inter-period relief. The end of each period saw sharp increases in water usage as people raced to the bathroom and flushed… with water usage at its highest level about 5 minutes after Sydney Crosby’s game winning overtime goal.

Then, later in the day (seen on the right side of the graph), another series of spikes in water usage appears as people flushed away during the advertising breaks in the Closing Ceremonies.

File this one under citizens initiatives. Call it ‘going for the bowl.’

Thus ends the punnery.

This just in from Jackie Wong at the West Ender – a fine article on the idea of public gatherings being the true legacy of the Olympics. The unprecedented number of people that took to the streets, animated downtown public spaces, and — are all helping to ajust our notion of what is possible for the city’s public realm.

Trevor Boddy makes a nice point when he says:

“The theatre of the streets is probably the biggest legacy of the Cultural Olympiad, even though it wasn’t an Olympic event.” 

And as the article also points out, the transportation plan for the Games was another winner – and some that needs to be better integrated into the everyday realities of post-Olympic Vancouver. This from Gordon Price:

“I think it’s taken a big argument off the table: ‘You won’t get people out of their cars.’ Well, yeah. Apparently, you can…”

Our piece in the article supports these ideas, advocates for the removal of Olympic surveillance cameras, and pushes for planning that takes a proactive approach to accomodating the public space needs of a growing population.

:: Read the complete article by Jackie Wong here.

And while on the subject of CCTV, an article by Travis Lupick in today’s Georgia Straight takes a look at the post-Games surveillance legacy. 

Seems a possible change in plans may be afoot. Councillor Andrea Reimer is on-record saying that the City is contemplating keeping 14 of the 90-odd cameras it installed for the Olympics. It’s unclear what will be happening to the other 75 that were purchased earlier in the year (e-bay? craigslist?). We’ll be trying to find some answers to this one over the next few weeks…

:: Read the complete Georgia Straight article by Travis Lupick here.

Robson Street has never been so busy. The City has been closing the street to traffic and there are just so many people there. It has become the most popular place to go and hang out in the City. From talking to people and from my own experience though, most people are not going there to line up for hours for a particular exhibit or event (five hours in line for the Canadian Mint anyone?!). Most are going to ‘take in the atmosphere’. What does that mean for urban planners and designers who try to understand why people are drawn to certain places?

People are drawn to people. This of course is not a new idea, but the Olympics have brought it into perspective in Vancouver. People are seeking a communal experience, a sense of community. The high density centre of Vancouver usually means residents walk the streets as relative strangers to each other, not meeting (or even wanting to meet) anyone they know. This time though, people want to experience something as a community. I think it’s more than a communal experience though, people are also drawn to being part of a common identity, in this case Canadian. If in doubt about this, just ask The Bay. I have never seen so many people wearing the same ‘uniform’ outside of a sporting venue. In fact, it is a great visual example of community through common identity.

In Vancouver, we are making this happen through temporary street closures or similar. Robson Street and Robson Square would not usually be described as great squares or meeting places. However, right now, they’re doing an amazing job. The French have an expression – joie de vivre (joy of living). Robson Street is currently the definition of it. And it is wonderful.

You can check out Tim’s own blog here.

The Games, of course, will be over in a matter of weeks – at which point the last Olympian and Paralympian will depart, and the city, no-smallish hangover in head, will try to get back to normal. The population “flood” will recede. But for how long? One of the interesting – and less-talked about aspect of these Games – is the fact that, from a demographic perspective, they act as a bit of a sneak preview of things to come.

According to Games organizers and City officials, Vancouver is currently witness to approximately 150,000 more people than normal – the tourists, media, dignitaries and athletes who are currently visiting our city for the 2010 Olympics. This is a big surge: assuming our 2010 population is somewhere around the 600,000 mark, we’ve grown, for this month, by a whopping 25%.

But Vancouver’s population continues to grow anyways. And over the last four census periods (stretching back to 1991), we’ve gained roughly 30-40,000 new residents every five years. Our rate of growth between the 2001 and 2006 census was 5.9% — which, while representing a decrease from previous years, is reflective of the fact that our over-all population (in sheer numbers) continues to increase.

If you use these trends to extrapolate into the future (population projections being a tricky and inexact science to be sure) chances are we will see 150,000 more people in the city in just over two decades. The key drivers here in Vancouver will be the same ones that have characterized much of the current growth in Canadian urban areas: increasing immigration, increasing resettlement from rural areas to cities, increased life-expectancy (StatsCan just reported an increase in the life expectancy rate)… and the fact that cities like Vancouver continue to act as a magnet for a host of social, cultural, and occupational reasons. And these sort of factors will likely continue to be supported by a range of policy and land-use planning decisions that favour increasing densification and the sort of development patterns that enable it.

The Olympic crowds may not be a perfect analogy — and one hopes that the sort of population increase that 150,000 more people will bring will not be entirely concentrated in the downtown core… but you can safely bank on a large portion of it taking place in the peninsula neighbourhoods. Indeed, several new towers have been approved or are in process in the West End and the Downtown areas. Add to that the new North East False Creek project which, when completed, will provide homes for at least 7,000 new residents. Couple that with the planning work taking place around the City’s Heritage Area Height Review and… you get the picture. It’s a different sort of ‘own the podium’ (podium towers versus ‘going for gold), but the demography is close enough. Of course, there will be other hot-spots that emerge too. This past census saw sizeable population increases in Marpole, Arbutus Ridge, Renfrew Collingwood and elsewhere. And, depending on the policy directions taking by City Council over the next few years, there is the possibility for other hot-spots to emerge, or, indeed, a more evenly placed form of densification across the city.

All the more reason — and this is a separate discussion — to ensure that the city we build for the future has the sort of quality urban design, adequate public spaces, all-age amenities and other features that will enable us to ensure a high standard of liveability for all residents.

So when you’re walking the streets over the next few days and weeks, take note: the crowds presage the future of the city. And while we (hopefully?) won’t have a future that involves quite so much red spandex and facepaint, we will have celebrations and gatherings and surges into downtown that may just look and feel… a little like right now.