On June 18, 2013, at the CityHallWatch-hosted “Engaged Vancouver? 20 years since CityPlan” event, former deputy director of planning for Vancouver Dr. Anne McAfee presented the story of CityPlan, a major urban planning initiative in the 1990s. It was hugely popular, strongly supported by citizens of Vancouver, and its afterglow is still winning kudos for Vancouver today. There was hope.
But under regimes controlled by developer-funded NPA and now Vision Vancouver, respect for communities began to fall apart. By 2013 our city was supposed to be well into implementation of CityPlan, but already with former mayor Sam Sullivan, funding and support for neighbourhood based planning was being dramatically cut. And despite getting elected in 2008 on promises to support CityPlan and oppose EcoDensity, Vision Vancouver and current Mayor Gregor Robertson have accelerated the dismantling of CityPlan and the promotion of the EcoDensity doctrine (rebranded as part of the Greenest City concept). This is the betrayal. We believe the mechanism of betrayal is embedded in our civic system (click for graphic image), which will be one of CityHallWatch’s main themes this year as we deconstruct the role of each player in the game. Vancouver now seems to be at the far swing of the pendulum. In response, communities are organizing, and this is an election year. Perhaps this gives everyone hope that citizens can restore balance and respect for neighbourhoods in Vancouver.
On June 18, guest speaker and architect Andy Marlow from Sydney Australia also spoke briefly, but was mostly on hand to listen to the experiences with CityPlan and ask questions for his research project.
Dr. Anne McAfee speaks about CityPlan on June 18, 2013
The slideshow that accompanied Dr. McAfee’s presentation is provided below, with permission:
Andy Marlow at Reflections on CityPlan event June 18, 2013
Randy Helten speaks about City Planning processes on June 18, 2013
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