Vancouveritis

[fever]

I guess it's obvious to us because we have a few hundred of them.

I think it's assumed that towers are incompatible with an urban setting, although I'm sure there are some counterexamples. Towers are typically built outside the core of European cities, basically in the form of highrise office parks. Buildings there are sculptures.

[Stingray2004]

Chalk up the following to story from Portland, Oregon to Charles Caleb Colton's famest quote:

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

A Trip to Vancouver Brings Density to Mind

By Nick Christensen, The Hillsboro Argus

January 26, 2010

It’s no secret that the region we call home has a little bit of Vancouver envy.

The Pearl District is a mirror image of Yaletown in this city’s downtown peninsula. Many of the AmberGlen concepts look very similar to much of the high-rise development in the Fraser Valley suburbs.

Even tiny Forest Grove frequently sends delegations to the town of Port Moody, just east of Vancouver, for ideas on how to add some vitality to its downtown.

I spent last weekend in Vancouver, enjoying time with my wife, eating great Chinese and Indian food and spending far more than I should have on Olympic merchandise.

Those who know me won’t be surprised that I spent much of my weekend here thinking about urban growth.

As we move closer to the exciting conclusion of the regionwide urban and rural reserves designation process, I couldn’t help but think about whether Portland will start to look like Vancouver in 50 years, and whether that’s necessarily a bad thing.

But as we Vancouverize, we can do it better.

The good news is we have a history of improving on Vancouver’s successes. The Trans-Canada Highway’s Port Mann Bridge, which inspired our Fremont Bridge, is obsolete and in the process of being replaced. Our rail transit system is much more comprehensive than Vancouver’s, which only travels to a small portion of the hyper-dense downtown.

...

Believe it or not, our traffic situation is far better than Vancouver’s. While I’ll admit my opinion of their roads was slightly spoiled by those seizure-inducing flashing green lights, the long waits to get across bridges or through traffic lights were hard to ignore.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus...rings_den.html

[DKaz]

It’s also unlikely we’ll ever fully look like Vancouver. Downtown’s population density is about 34,000 per square mile; the city proper has a population density of 13,000 per square mile, and suburbs range around 6,000 per square mile. Hillsboro’s density is about 3,200 per square mile; Portland’s hovers around 4,000.

So Vancouver's suburbs are more dense than the City of Portland? That's amazing. Downtown Portland seems pretty dense but outside the downtown core it's just all single houses and low rises.

[SpongeG]

they also have a better road network than vancouver probably why traffic is better there

I don't really get the same feeling when i am in the pearl district as to when i am in yaletown - unless he is also including the seawall area i think of yaletown as being hamilton street area basically

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by DKaz

outside the downtown core it's just all single houses and low rises.

Hmm... sounds like Vancouver...

[vansky]

vancouver is a "farm" compared to real cities, and a real city compared to farms...

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by paradigm4

Hmm... sounds like Vancouver...

With the exception of pockets of high density areas and highrises, the biggest one being the stretch of Broadway but also Joyce area. Burnaby has four pockets, half of New Westminster is an apartment of some sort. None of this medium or high density stuff jives with the American way of life.

[trofirhen]

Here are some facts and links about Brisbane, Australia. Interesting to compare to Vancouver. Very similar in population and air passenger volume.

All from Wikipedia

Population: 1,945,639 (2008)[1] (3rd)
• Density: 918/km² (2,377.6/sq mi) (2006)[2]

Wikipedia Link: Transport in Brisbane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Brisbane

Brisbane Airport Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane_Airport

... and the main city profile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane

Might make a good air link from YVR for expanded service onwards to SYD and MEL

... and a way to get rid of Vancouveritis !!

[AverageJoe]

Beijing seems to have developed a case of Vancouveritis and built Vancouver Forest, a Vancouver-like subdivision of single-family detached homes and townhouses surrounded by trees and quiet streets, parks, creeks, and a little town centre.

The developer: http://www.ekistics.ca/projects_tp_vf.htm



By: qsm
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19689464

[crazyjoeda]

^ I've seen a number of suburban developments around Metro Vancouver inspired by the architecture and lifestyle of other cities such as London and Boston, but it's interesting to see a Vancouver inspired development in another city.

[Denscity]

Apparently Dubai has created a nearly identical false creek area complete with seawall and point towers. A delegation was sent to Vancouver from Dubai for inspiration.

[SpongeG]

yes - there was a special on TV years ago and it mentioned that development, some of the shots they showed looked quite similiar like the railings and seawall walk

in fact here is a pic and an article on it


bcbusinessonline.ca


An uncanny replica of Vancouver's False Creek – in the heart of the Middle East. It goes by the name Dubai Marina.

In a globalized world, goods move, capital flows, people travel, but cities stay put. Streets and buildings and seawalls are the ultimate fixed assets, each set on the map, locked into its own particular site. Or so I thought. Now, I am not so sure, after touring an unsettling new urban development in the United Arab Emirates. It’s a development that sprawls over what used to be an empty stretch of the Great Arabian Desert, just west of Dubai. Called Dubai Marina, it’s almost a perfect clone of downtown Vancouver – right down to the handrails on the seawall, the skinny condo towers on townhouse bases, all around a 100-per-cent artificial, full-scale version of False Creek filled with seawater from the Persian Gulf.

...
http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/2006/...se-creek-dubai

[SpongeG]

its a really good article by the way... well worth the read

When I asked what he was doing in Dubai, Hagkull beckoned to a couple of associates who gathered around, one of them Robert Lee, also formerly with Concord Pacific. Hagkull replied with a question of his own, “Has no one told you what we are up to here?” When I replied no, he laughed and glanced conspiratorially at Lee, then proposed a plan: “This is too strange just to tell you, because you will never believe it unless you see it with your own eyes. We will send a car for you at 11 a.m. tomorrow.”

Smiling broadly, Robert Lee then said: “Trevor, take a careful look down there, then tell me what you see.” The desert wind whirling construction dust into darting eddies, I felt self-conscious about being put on the spot, half a world away. A few moments of staring, then a familiar shoreline curve came into view, then another undulation after it, like a glimpse of hips evoking those of a distant lover. Hagkull and his colleagues started to giggle at the first signs of revelation on my face. “It’s False Creek,” I muttered, my eyebrows and hands shooting up. “You guys have rebuilt False Creek, full size, way out here in the Arabian Desert.” Reeling with laughter, Hagkull asked me for my critic’s opinion of what I saw. “Well it’s, it’s… very False Creek!”

[SpongeG]

this is a great quote/description - part of the article talks about how lively and how much better the dubai version is with its seawall lined with food and shops and people

Dubai Marina’s seawall is an obliging urban festival; Vancouver’s seawall is an obligation to exercise.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by AverageJoe

Beijing seems to have developed a case of Vancouveritis ...

That's funny, I thought the reverse was true.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by AverageJoe

Beijing seems to have developed a case of Vancouveritis .....

Originally Posted by whatnext

That's funny, I thought the reverse was true.

now, now ......