Vancouver

Ken Greenberg was asked to participate in a Peer Review by the City of Vancouver as part its Downtown Capacity and View Corridors Study in 2009. The study was intended to review the adopted heights limits and view corridors in the city's regulatory framework and recommend changes, if appropriate, to identify possible modifications while still achieving the public objectives underlying the current height and view corridor policies. Immediately adjacent to imposing mountains Downtown Vancouver has developed a unique presence as a city shaped by its geography on a confined peninsula between two bodies of water, False Creek the Burrard Inlet, with a magnificent mountain backdrop that is its quintessential landmark, point of reference and the defining image of its special identity as a city in nature. It is no accident that the vast majority of the postcard views of the city emphasize this special relationship to the peaks and ridges of the Pacific Coastal Range – the Lions, Mt. Seymour, Crown, etc. With great foresight steps were taken in the 1980's to ensure that the development of a lively, dense and vibrant downtown would not obscure that powerful presence by protecting specific view corridors and by and large these have been successful. But much has happened since and things have now reached a point where there is a risk of having this vital connection obscured in the next stage of the city's evolution. This was seen as a critical time to take stock and redefine the approach taking into consideration what has already occurred and what is to come in shaping the form of the city within its extraordinary natural setting.