Vancouver is ranked as the most livable city in Canada, and is rated number 5 in the world! I’m sure that being exposed to beautiful scenery each day – mountains and water – certainly helps to make the city an easy place to live.
We think that Toronto could learn some lessons from Vancouver to make our own city a bit more livable. There is a lot of green space in Vancouver, which may seem surprising given that there is limited land between the water and the mountains and that the majority of new development is upwards rather than outwards. Vancouver has gotten creative with where its green space can be found…like on buildings…
Not only is there green space in the city, but more and more buildings are being built using “green” techniques. For instance, the Convention Centre includes a 6 acre roof that has plants growing on it which helps to keep the building cool in summer and warm in winter. Rain water is collected for irrigation as well as for building services such as water to flush toilets. Recycled wood is used throughout, and the building was awarded the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the first convention centre in the world to earn the highest level of certification in energy efficiency.
To further enhance Vancouver’s livability, the city has passed a bylaw requiring that any new construction in the downtown core includes public art. We found this policy to be very forward thinking and has led to some very unique art installations.
This art installation outside of a government building has boxes on posts which move up and down automatically…and are in sync with the elevators in the building!
The art installation for this building was a bit more difficult to see at first…
It’s actually a line of poetry written right on the side of the building which says: “Lying on top of a building the clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street.” Yes…the “writing’s on the wall”!!!
Vancouver also has a strong movie industry with this piece of art put in place to represent the intersection of nature and the film…
Do you see the tower in this picture of the Vancouver skyline…it looks like it’s on top of the 4th tall building from the left hand side of the photo. You might think this is the equivalent of Toronto’s CN Tower or Seattle’s Space Needle with their distinctive circular observation decks.
In Vancouver, this is actually an air traffic control tower for the Vancouver Harbour, home to the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre! As you look out across the harbour it seems like the seaplanes are continuously taking off and landing in and amongst the other harbour traffic.
Olympic Tradition
Vancouver is proud of its Olympic tradition, of which we found evidence throughout the city. To me one of the most interesting displays we found was within a walkway in the Convention Centre showing the different medals, as well as the Vancouver medal podium.
It was very important to Vancouver that First Nations traditions were honoured during the Olympic and Paralympic games. One great example of this was the use of First Nations imagery on the medals. The Olympic medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze on the left side in the picture below) were emblazoned with an image based upon the Orca whale which represents power, strength and teamwork; the Paralympic medals contained the image of the Raven which represents determination.
We also made it to the Olympic Cauldron, where “The Great One”, Canadian Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky lit the flame at the opening ceremonies.
Vancouver continues to shine on the international stage presenting the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup of Soccer aka football! 🙂 Fox Sports built a dedicated broadcasting centre right at the water’s edge just for the event!
Granville Island
To the southwest of Vancouver’s downtown core can be found Granville Island.
This gem used to be called Industrial Island because it was the area of the city where all of the industry was concentrated. The industry focused upon supporting the shipping industry in Vancouver’s busy port. There were plenty of toxic chemicals including a tailing pond for a lead-based paint factory.
Fortunately the island has been cleaned up and is now the centre for the arts and artists. Nobody lives on the island, it is all public space.
This giant, 2-floor toy store used to be a lead paint factory…
The only remnant of the former industrial era is a cement factory which continues to operate. When you look at the Vancouver skyline with the numerous skyscrapers which exist or are being built, you can understand why access to a concrete factory might be useful. In Vancouver they put a colourful spin on cement, too!
Even though no one lives on the island, we found a fresh food market…
…though not as busy as some of the markets we’ve seen in other parts of the world with no chicken feet scratching at you as you walked by either!
Although no one “technically” lives on the island, there are some floating homes which are moored just off of the island. When I say “just off”, I mean within a foot or so of shore! There’s a small community of homes which float on the water and rise and fall with the tides.
We all really loved our time in Vancouver. The city is one of the most beautiful we have visited with great transit infrastructure that’s completely integrated (bus, sky train, ferries), as well as being a forward-thinking city when it comes to arts and the environment.
Vancouver as Canada’s most livable city? I couldn’t agree more.
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