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DREAMY SCENERY IN VANCOUVER B.C.

WELCOME TO URBANICITY
SENSING URBANITY
LISTENING FOR WORDS
VIEWING IMAGES OF MYSTERY
LOVING MUSIC
READING FOR LIVING
CELEBRATING THE MIND
TRAVELING TO EXPLORE
SEARCHING THE FUTURE
MAKING A DIFFERENCE

A young city in a lush setting has big plans.

Vancouver B.C., the edge city, is poised to join the big leagues.

As Canada’s orphan, Vancouver, a city of two million, has gained a distinctive, independent identity. It’s natural alignments on the Pacific Rim are Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.

As perceived by the citizens of Toronto, Quebec City, or Montreal, Vancouver might as well be on another planet.

Vancouver has a lot going for it, including the mildest climate north of the 49th parallel. It is set in a ravishingly dramatic peninsula near ocean, archipelago, glacier, volcano, fiords, flood plains, rain forest, rivers and snow-capped Alpine-like peaks. Its temperate and fertile soil insures a lush landscape. Only a century old, it emerged from the surrounding wilderness and quickly developed a "genius loci."

During the ten weeks of summer sun the beaches along the city’s waterfront are packed with "lotus land" pretenders. Outdoor cafes, music, shorts and flip-flops transform the streetscape. The L.A. connection doesn’t stop there. Both are young cities that grew up with the automobile. But Vancouver’s freeways don’t interfere with the central city-- where there’s a Sky Train system. Both are cities of immigrants with great diversity of cultures.

Vancouver is the most northerly major city in North America. It's growth is compact;  so far it has shunned big-box retailers, big-scale urban renewal, and clogged traffic. From the onset, it has been a ‘flux’ city– whatever newcomers want it to be.

As such, it is the perennial immigrant’s city of the imagination– and has an energetic small business sector.Vancouver is sometimes referred to as the social Petri dish of Canada. Most citizens are non-English speaking (of that group, the preponderant language is Chinese.)

Shunning traditions of Canada’s other urban centers, Vancouver is busy writing a new mythology for itself as a new model of urbanism. It sees itself as a work in progress and a ‘moving target.’ The buzz from its leaders is "smarter city," "new urban ecology," and ‘reinventing ourselves." There is a self-conscious selling of the city as the next global marketplace with a thriving "green R&D" and a growing creative class.

In 2003 Vancouver made a submission to the International Sustainable Urban Systems Design Competition (organized by the International Gas Union (IGU). IGU’s goal is for cities to collaborate with the energy sector to find sustainable solutions to global environmental problems. Vancouver won, beating out San Diego, Tokyo, Goa, Vologda, and Berlin.

Vancouver's dream of ascendance was realized when it hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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The United Nations rates Vancouver the "Most Beautiful City in the World."
 
Landmark attractions are Stanley Park, Cypress Mountain, Granville Island, English Bay Beach, Jericho Beach, Canada Place, Yaletown, Downtown, and the University of British Columbia.

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Burrand Inlet looking south toward downtown.

go to Vancouver Scenes for a photo tour

Remain curious.