What We Can Learn From Vancouver's Graceful Growth

16 June 2003 - 9:00am

Vancouver has accomplished on its waterfront what San Francisco has talked about for decades. US Cities could learn much from Vancouver's success.

"Its financial district is framed by nearly 100 towers added in the past decade, many of them slender spikes of concrete and glass. With the towers come shaded sidewalks and large grassy parks, along with money for day care centers and subsidized housing.What's striking from a San Francisco vantage point is that the entire transformation began in 1991 -- six years after the same sort of vision was mapped out for Rincon Hill, a semi-industrial enclave three blocks south of Market Street. Despite the head start, Rincon remains a ragged work in progress; there's little sense of urbanity."

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, June 16, 2003
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I argue that the vocabulary of planning and the concepts necessary to participate in local government and planning issues need to be taught to students in K-12.