False Creek Flats presenting at UBC Poster Showcase on March 31st, 2014.

Working on this project our group learnt the importance of communication in ongoing projects.  The City of Vancouver stressed the importance of meeting and communicating in order to ensure both sides of the partnership were on the same page.

We found that splitting up the work and allowing group members to become “specialized” on certain topics was an effective way of maximizing the amount of ideas pursued and research done.  In the end we came together to create a finished product that benefitted from the different perspectives that went into creating it.

 

City Studio’s Hubbub Project Showcase Event at City Hall

Our biggest contribution to the community was bringing in fresh, unique ideas for the area’s improvement. The current area is industrial, unkempt, and is tagged as the greenest tech area to work in. Some of our sustainable ideas, including swales, solar panel vehicle charging stations, and recycled sidewalks are in direct correspondence to the city’s Greenest City 2020 and Transportation 2040 action plans. We are confident that these green ideas are implementable and will contribute to the transformation of the False Creek Flats area into a “Green Enterprise Zone”.

Overall, we had a very valuable experience working on this CBEL project, together with City Studio and City of Vancouver. Knowing that we, as students, can contribute to the community directly inspires us to work harder and perceive problems from different points of view, and eventually strive to make the world a better place.

The goal of our project was to provide unique ideas to the City of Vancouver that will be implemented over the next 10-20 years in the False Creek area.  Due to the lengthy timeline of our project we are not able to reflect on the physical implementation of our ideas yet, however or contact at the City of Vancouver, Peter Cohen, was very happy with our finished product.  Peter was pleased with the ideas we have suggested and now it is up to him and his project team to decide on which ideas to implement in the area. We thought this project to be a success judging from Peter Cohen’s reaction to our poster and we look forward to following the progress of the False Creek area in the future.

During the course of our project we had several aspects to work out, mostly with regards to communication and distributing tasks among members. Overall we felt that our approach gave us a reasonably good deliverable and we all worked to the best of our abilities.

As it shows, our team learned several aspects of becoming professionally developed because we learned the process in creating a solution to a given problem. It was a long process creating clear instructions to each other and making sure we didn’t miss any minor details took a lot more time than we had initially thought. We felt that managing our time and having a better line of communication may have made the entire project easier but we did it to the best of our ability under the given circumstances.

What went very well was the effort that each member provided to the project. When it was necessary for our members to complete a certain task, we really pulled through to finish our parts as a team effort. It was also a great benefit to have such supporting individuals to guide us along our project, specifically Peter Cohen, transportation engineer for the city of Vancouver, Dr. Susan Nesbit, Professor for our CBEL project, and Lena, the coordinator and our client contact from CityStudio.

These are the ideas that we are proposing to the City of Vancouver:

1. Street Lights – White LED street lights

• Improves public safety and visibility for all road users
• 40% electricity savings and decreases maintenance cost
• LED lights are more directional that reduces light pollution

2. Solar Panels – Solar powered electric vehicle charging station

• Reduces carbon emissions by supporting low-carbon emission and electric vehicles
• Initial cost will be accommodated by its long term benefits and parking fees
• Propel Vancouver towards a carbon-neutral city

3. Swales – Bio-filter for storm water runoff

• Swales are a sustainable and alternative to traditional storm drains
• Limit harmful effects on the environment and helps with Vancouver’s goal of being the greenest city in the world by 2020
• Easily installed and cheaper to maintain than traditional storm drains

 4. Recycled Sidewalks

• Rubber sidewalks have longer life cycles than concrete sidewalks
• Rubber does not crack from root growth of nearby trees
• Rubber sidewalks lower maintenance and replacement costs

For our class, each group is supposed to describe the ‘most pertinent details of [their] project implementation plan’.  Because our project plan looks forty years into the future we are lucky enough to come up with hypothetical situations, and contingency plans.

All of the following suggestions are to be coordinated by the City of Vancouver staff and paid for by taxpayers dollars.  Each suggested item is intended to improve the well-being and safety of Vancouverites.

Street Lights

Picture taken from: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/01/vancouver-testing-implementation-bright-white-led-street-lights/

As False Creek Flats area is developed and formed into the greenest place to work, new street lights will be required to be made more eco-friendly and old street lights will also be reused where possible. White LED streetlights have been proven to be a more effective and economical way in regulating the lighting level along the streets. In accordance with Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 action plan to increase the number of pedestrians and bikers, 300 LED streetlights will be installed around the False Creek Flats area to improve public safety and visibility which may reduce the number of crimes and also encourage more walking and biking during night time.

The installation of LED streetlights will begin in the end of 2014, and is targeted to be completed by the beginning of 2016. City staff would complete this implementation as per code and regulations, and also follow the safety regulations set in installation and safety protocol. The switch into LED streetlights will yield in a 40% saving in electricity consumption, and a reduced in maintenance cost. The cost for this implementation will be taken on the taxpayers of Vancouver.

Solar Panels

Picture taken from:  http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/imageSnag/solarcarport2_f.jpg

The proposed 2014 Building By-law under the Transportation 2040 action plan supports low-carbon vehicles by making new buildings accommodate electric vehicle parking in at least 10% of available parking spots. To further the city’s carbon-neutral goal, solar powered electric vehicle charging stations could be installed in these parking spots. These solar powered charging stations would be implemented under the Building By-law for businesses.

To test the effectiveness of solar panels, the solar panels would first be installed in 2015 in the Emily Carr University parking lots as initiative to Vancouver’s greenest city action plan, as well as Emily Carr University’s commitment to sustainability. Extra energy gathered by the solar panels will also be captured and could be used to power buildings. The initial cost of these solar panel charging stations would be taken on by Emily Carr, but the cost would be accommodated by parking fees, its long term benefits including energy generation, and government incentives. If proven successful, the city can implement this under the Building By-law and push Vancouver towards the greenest city on Earth.

Recycled Sidewalks

Pictures taken from: http://www.jefffitzpatrick.com/Blog.php/vancouver-s-first-full-rubber-sidewalk

Concrete produces one tonne of CO2 emissions per tonne used.  To reduce the amount of concrete poured in the area during development, in accordance with Vancouver’s greenest city 2020 action plan, recycled rubber sidewalks could be used instead.  The long term value of the product makes up for the higher installation cost.  The modular design of rubber sidewalks lowers maintenance, replacement and maintenance costs, and the rubber doesn’t crack due to root growth of nearby trees.  Also, the rubber sidewalks have longer life cycles than traditional sidewalks.

Through collaboration of the City of Vancouver and the Tire Stewardship BC Association, sidewalks in the area will be replaced over the span of several years in order to mitigate costs.  The new rubber sidewalks could be installed as old, damaged are removed for replacement, and for new construction.  The cost could be subsidized through the Tire Stewardship BC Association fees paid through purchasing new tires, as per their current model.

Timeline:

• Summer 2015 – First showcase sidewalk installed
• Summer 2020 – Half of the sidewalks in the area are recycled rubber
• Summer 2030 – All of the sidewalks in the area are recycled rubber

Swales

Picture taken from: http://www.susdrain.org/images/c.6_- swales_and_conveyance_channels_-_swales.jpg

Swales are a sustainable alternative to traditional storm drains which limit the harmful effects on the environment and will be a big step towards Vancouver’s goal of being the greenest city in the world by 2020.  Along with being sustainable, swales are easily installed, have a longer lifespan, and are cheaper to maintain than traditional storm drains.

Swales would initially be installed on Industrial Ave. and after review and feedback it would be determined whether they would be beneficial to install on all streets throughout the False Creek Flats.  Ideally the installation process would follow a similar timeline to the recycled sidewalks, making construction more efficient, both economically and physically.

Expected Cost

$8.50 – $50.00 per linear foot depending on depth and width

Task sequence

1. Demolish curbs and existing system
2. Install swales and new sidewalk system
3. Estimated lifespan of 50 years

Estimated Completion Time

Start in 2015 and continue until 2030 depending on feedback and project review

Risk Issue

Litter possibly infiltrating swales

After meeting with our client and through regular correspondence, our CBEL group was able to conduct a baseline assessment of the situation.

As a Project Engineer for the False Creek Flats, Peter Cohen, described to us the detailed issues and concerns of the area that needed to be addressed and recommended that we choose specific ones to put our focus on.

Fig 1. Discontinuous bike lanes force bikers to use the road

Brainstormed Ideas

Creating Room for traffic (UBC Broadway line extending into the area)
– Extension of VCC Clark
– General low quality of service in the center

Improving the sidewalks
– workers drive to work in the False Creek area; encourages workers to walk or bus if the
sidewalks are fixed
– helps with the development in the area

Add lightings along the sidewalks and bike paths
– security for the pedestrians and bikers
– encourages people to walk along at night times
– helps with path guidance at night times
– adds a “cozy feeling” to the community

Removing curbs
– saves rainwater
– increase infiltration and recharge of stormwater
– groundwater sustainability

Linking the produce area
– widen the roads for the produce trucks
– smooth traffic flow

Connecting the bike paths

Selecting a new road to yield commercial vehicles

Creating Overpasses in the northeast corner

Chosen Ideas

From doing our site inspection, we saw issues where we could easily envision some change. In particular, we chose to focus on the sidewalks, lighting, and general comfort for pedestrian traffic. Knowing that Vancouver has a plan for transportation 2040 and their plan to reduce the use of personal automobiles, we wanted to create more of a reason for the community to walk or use extended bike lanes.

We chose to focus on the 3 ideas of improving the sidewalks, adding lighting, and removing curbs.

Timeline of Chosen Ideas

The implementation of our solutions will span across from the current year 2014, to the projected transportation 2040 plan as described by the city of Vancouver. We’d want to start with the easier solutions such as the sidewalk improvements, and follow along with streetlights and creating room for traffic. The entire project is still in the reviewing/planning stage which means some of these solutions may not even be implemented but are reasonable within the given time frame perhaps in the later years.

Fig 2. Area lacks in sidewalks and has garbage lying along the sides

“CityStudio Vancouver is an energetic hub of learning and leadership where students design and implement Greenest City 2020 solutions.”

CityStudio has engaged hundreds of students through the unique inter-institutional campus-city collaboration (C3) to develop projects and research related to urban sustainability that may help the city where they have identified the most need. The Campus City Collaborative (C3) – a collaborative partnership between the City of Vancouver (‘the City’) and six Vancouver post secondary institutions, including The University of British Columbia. CityStudio integrates learning with current projects in the City of Vancouver and in local communities.

CLIENT

For this CBEL project, our client is the City of Vancouver Strategic Transportation department. Two of the city’s strategic action plans, including the Greenest City 2020 and Transportation 2040, both aim to transform Vancouver into world’s greenest city with a focus of prioritizing and promoting foot, bike and mass transit, as well as decrease motor traffic in the city. Key targets for the city by 2040 is to have the majority (2/3) of trips made on foot, bike and transit, to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels and to have the cleanest air of any major city in the world.

PROJECT GOAL

Our project goal is to propose improvement to the False Creek Flats area in response to the City of Vancouver’s 30 year plan of transforming the area into a “green enterprise zone” where thousands of people and industries will work and operate. The city’s goal is to tag the False Creek Flats area as foot and bike accessible industrial land that will support the downtown core and as a greenest tech area in the world to work.

CONSTRAINTS

Our group is aware that in every project, there will be several negotiable and non-negotiable constraints that we should consider. In False Creek Flats Improvement Plan, we have to keep in mind that we are not allowed to remove any railway lines, including the Burrard Inlet, or build tunnels underground. In addition to that, any changes that may affect the Produce Row and Cottonwood Gardens will not be approved due to their cultural significance to this area. City of Vancouver is determined to maintain False Creek Flats area as an industrial area for access to downtown. An idea of building a bike overpass near the northeast corner has been proposed and will be opened to discussion with our client.

STRATEGIES

To achieve our project goal, we will adopt a timeline methodology as we progress. First, we will conduct a team site visit to gather information and experience the area. We will then conduct a baseline assessment with Mr.Peter Cohen, our contact from the City of Vancouver, to discuss areas of improvement that are of interest to our team and seek approval from Mr. Cohen. After obtaining key areas to work on, our team will perform option development. We will research on new technology that will improve the sustainability of the area, as well as case studies from other cities that may be used here in Vancouver. Finally, we will present our solution to the identified areas of improvement on a poster and present the poster in UBC as well as City Studio’s April 1st networking and show off event.

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