[Whalleyboy]

Originally Posted by Hourglass

Vancouver punches above its weight for a city its size. It's still a young city -- only incorporated 124 years ago (someone posted earlier that it's a teenager -- couldn't agree more). Cities such as Berlin, SF, New York, London, Paris Sydney and Tokyo are much larger and have been around a lot longer, which means they've also had more of a chance to develop their civic institutions.

My biggest concern about Vancouver and British Columbia (and maybe it's my perception) is the civic smugness that mean new and different ideas from other cities and countries get ignored. Anyone remember the BC Tourism Slogan "British Columbia - The Best Place on Earth"? That just sets my teeth on edge, because candidly there are other cities such as Geneva, Zurich and Vienna that also rank consistently high on quality of life surveys and outstrip Vancouver in environmental awareness, civic and cultural programs. The City of Vienna has at its City Hall an amazing array of world class programs year round ranging from outdoor film and jazz festivals, performances, ice skating in winter, Christmas and Easter markets with lots of food and drink booths -- even a circus. The Donauinselfest is Europe's biggest outdoor music festival. I don't consistently see that sort of thing in Vancouver except in the summer with the various festivals -- and even then the City grumbles about the cleanup associated with, for example,the Celebration of Light. And don't get me started on the civic New Year celebrations (or historical general lack thereof).

The Olympics showed a side of Vancouver that needs to come out more and could be a sign of what the city could be. The danger I fear is for Vancouver to 'rest on its laurels.' Some symptoms are evident in the uniformity of the downtown skyline dominated by James Cheng-designed condos (Olympic village, Shangri-la and Woodwards being notable exceptions). An interesting test will be what the Vancouver is like 10 or 15 years from now.

I couldnt agree with you more on the smugness of BC and Vancouver. It can be seen right in are own province. I talk to people from the Island all the time they say Vancouver is an amazing place but people are smug there. It really lowers us. I find its easier to talk to people from Victoria then it is to talk to some one in Vancouver. Not that i am trying to pick on Vancouver with this its just something i've come to notices. the further you get from Vancouver the friendlier and less smug people tend to be.