Article

From once-polluted shoreline, industrial land and former sawmills, Vancouver’s False Creek, SoMa and River District areas are emerging as outstanding examples of urban renewal.

By STEVEN THRENDYLE Decades after artists and bohemians sought cheap rents in vermin-infested loft space throughout inner cities across North America, the conversion of warehouses and industrial land into vibrant urban neighbourhoods – “gentrification,” as it’s known – continues. Vancouver planners and developers have been at the vanguard of this New Urbanism movement. False Creek, Mount Pleasant/SoMa (South Main) and River District/East Fraserlands are testing grounds for some of the most intriguing examples of urban renewal in Canada. It all started on the south shore of False Creek with the creation of Granville Island, a partnership of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. and thethe river, but the timber is now destined for processing in Asia. The 137-acre site is now better suited for family housing than it is for industrial purposes. There’s also an opportunity to learn from earlier development clusters west of the current site that were built in the 1990s. That first generation of homes suffered from lack of access to the river, and residents had to hop in their cars to get to big box retailers and services along Marine Drive. With River District, Vancouver city planners and developer ParkLane Homes have learned their lesson. Forget being a LEED certified office building or apartment complex, River District is gunning for LEED Gold in the Neighbourhood department. Noted urban philosopher Andres Duany and architect James Cheng contributed their passionate